The Film
"I want you to remember this face, here. Okay? This is the guy behind the guy behind the guy."
Before Jon Favreau became a major director and Vince Vaughn helped to launch the Frat Pack, the two were struggling actors. Oh, both had various bit parts; Vaughn was featured in multiple very special afterschool-type specials and Favreau was in PCU. The two even crossed paths on Rudy. Then, Swingers hit.
Favreau plays Mike, a not-so-funny, struggling stand-up comedian, who can't seem to get over his ex back east. He spends most of his time sulking, even when he's hanging out with his friends, who are like a reincarnated Rat Pack. Mike and the wisecracking Trent (Vaughn), childhood friend Rob (Ron Livingston), a boy named Sue (Patrick Van Horn) and Charles (Alex Desert) spend nights playing Nintendo, showing up fashionably late to parties, checking out the lounge scene, and scarfing down diner food.
Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) did amazing things with Favreau's script -- and on an insanely small budget. If that's not money, we don't know what is.
The Picture
You have to remember that Swingers came long before Iron Man and Cowboys & Aliens (directed by Favreau), and even that horrible Psycho remake (starring Vaughn). At the time, these guys were a bunch of nobodies and the film was made on a shoestring budget of $200,000. That budget completely shows in this 1.78:1 transfer. The film is pretty grainy throughout, which kills off pretty much all opportunity for detail. Black levels are OK, but there are a good deal of soft scenes. The colors, on the other hand, are pretty decent. Without a doubt, the Blu-ray delivers a noticeable upgrade, but this is not a beautiful baby by any means.
The Sound
Surprisingly, Swingers defaults to the DTS Master-Audio 2.0 track. However, you're probably better off, since the 5.1 channel option doesn't offer much of a boost. The 5.1 track features occasional directional sounds and a teeny bit of ambience, but it comes off as kind of forced. It's also insanely disappointing for a film with such a lively soundtrack. In case you've forgotten, Swingers inspired a whole new wave of swing music, as well as two full soundtrack releases. Despite music playing a major role in the film's success, it just comes off as a little flat here. Thankfully, the dialogue packs plenty of punch, and sounds wonderful throughout.
The Extras
Lionsgate has picked up all of the extras from the Swingers DVD release. While it would have been nice to get a 15-year retrospective or something like that, this is a pretty nice collection. First up, there are two commentaries. Director Doug Liman and editor Stephen Mirrione do technical talk, while Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn talk -- well, they just talk. The two discuss their humble beginnings, the people in the film, experiences that inspired moments in the film, and other amusing anecdotes. Both are well worth a listen, with the Favreau/Vaughn combo being the most entertaining.
The one featurette is "Making it in Hollywood," a four-part documentary that covers the inspiration for the film, how the whole thing came together, the film's influence, and "Life after Swingers." It's sort of a puff piece, but the interviews and other clips with the various people associated with the film are worth sitting through. Otherwise, there are deleted scenes and a completely weird, inexplicable parody of Swingers and Sling Blade called "Swing Blade" (um... what?).
Final Thoughts
While we have to commend Lionsgate for letting the source material speak for itself, it's sort of a shame than Swingers doesn't look and sound a lot better. This Blu-ray offers a slight upgrade from the DVD, but fans of the film won't really care about the imperfections. Our little baby's all growns up, but still as funny as ever.
Product Details
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