Stylish Films: Swingers (1996)
c'mon baby, don't talk like that. you're a big winner
“You’re so money and you don’t even know it.”
Heartbreak. We’ve all been there. It’s the oil that fuels some of history’s greatest works of art. Unrequited love is painful - arguably one of the most emotionally painful feelings in the human experience. I’m no stranger to the feeling and neither are you. It makes you do crazy things. Maybe you stop eating. Maybe you eat too much. Chances are you’re not leaving the house as much as you should and you’re ignoring your friends and family. Ultimately you’ll reach the point of acceptance and you begin to recover, but even then it won’t be easy. You’ll have to feign confidence and force your way through interactions. Eventually, you have to start all over again.
This is the basis for Jon Favreau’s writing debut, Swingers, a 1996 film about recovering from brutal heartbreak and growing up from a boy to a man. The film stars Favreau, who plays Mike, a heartbroken, naive, romantic, alongside his best friend Trent, played by a young Vince Vaughn. Trent is everything that Mike isn’t. He’s a smooth-talking playboy who is wise beyond his years. He’s been in these streets for lack of a better term for years and understands how it works. When Mike moves to LA to pursue a career in acting he cuts off a relationship that was years in the making. Trent on the other hand is a fun-loving party boy who’s making the most out of every night in the city of angels.
In the first, and perhaps most important act of the film, Mike is sitting around his apartment, depressed from months of dwelling on the break-up, when Trent calls him. Mike, tired of Trent's attempts to make Mike go to parties in the Hollywood Hills, tries to shrug him off until Trent announces that they're going to Vegas. After some brief hesitation, Mike agrees. They hop in Trent's Mercury Comet Caliente and make their way across the desert. Mike chides Trent for not having on a suit yet, implying that there was a previously discussed agreement that they'd both wear suits. "Vegas!" they yell at the top of their voice.
The showup, wearing full suits down to the tie, to the Stardust casino, an interesting choice given this was the early days when Vegas was being taken over by the mega-hotels. The atmosphere is anything but lively, but Trent reassures Mike: "Guys like you and me need to kick it here, old school." This is where the film shines: in its juxtaposition between old and young, old-school and new-school. The film's opening titles feature old photos of couples out on the town with Dean Martin's "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You" playing on top. The guys drive classic cars and listen to artists of the swing era. Dean Martin, Nat "King" Cole, Frank Sinatra, etc. These are young people who are very aware of the past and pay homage to it, while at the same time having fully developed unique personalities.
During the guy’s rough gambling trip, they meet Kristy (coincidently played by Deena Martin, Dean Martin's daughter) and Lisa, a cocktail waitress, and her friend at a hotel bar. Trent had been trying to teach Mike how to be a smoother talker and more confident person, but he fumbles over his words and comes off as meek and insecure. When they go back to Kristy's place, Mike confides his heartbrokenness in Lisa, relinquishing any chances he had. On the way home, Trent delivers the line of the movie. "You were so money and you don't even know it."
I LOVE IT! It's applicable to just about every social situation!! Mike may be sad, lonely, and lost, but he has all the tools to be a confident, happy person!
The rest of the movie introduces us to the rest of the friend group including Ron Livingston as Rob, Alex Désert as Charles, and Patrick Van Horn as Sue, whose name is a Johnny Cash reference. The group plays video games together before going to trendy, out-of-the-way LA bars and lounges. They go get late-night dinners before showing up three hours late to parties in the Hollywood Hills. They meet girls, get rejected by girls, get girls’ numbers, the works. They’re all young aspiring actors occupying a world of models, thespians, and beautiful people. It’s very much a film about young people being young in a cool city.
The appeal of Swingers is that every friend group can see themselves in it. In our early and mid-twenties, we all go on adventures like spontaneous Vegas trips, hole-in-the-wall bars, decadent parties, and late-night trysts. We play video games during the pregame. We bullshit out friends to have fun but we’re there to pick each other up.
The other area of appeal is in its ability to balance homage and originality. The film feels familiar because of its use of classic swing music and their choice to use an older casino to shoot their Vegas scene. Trent and Mike wear suits to gamble instead of denim and a t-shirt like everyone else was beginning to wear at the time. It’s an old-school ode to a romantic, long-forgotten era. The characters drive classic cars and frequent swing clubs. The film is full of nostalgia. They even reference their contemporaries, with scenes patterned after the diner scene in Reservoir Dogs and the Copacabana tracking shot in Goodfellas. The climax involves the gang at a swing bar for “Sinatra night,” and Mike participates in some advanced swing dancing with a young Heather Graham.
For all of this nostalgia, nothing appears forced. That’s the parting of the film’s enduring charisma. Much like the movie’s slick-talking characters, the pace, and tone in the movie are easy, and natural, just like you’d expect a conversation with a potential lover to be. The characters talk with sentences full of “babies,” “honey’s” and “money” which influenced the way men spoke for years. There’s a semblance to the cool, laid-back dialect of the Beat Generation, but still original.
The characters dressed up go out. Slacks and dress shoes with an open dress shirt. You’ll get loads of side-eye for dressing like this in 2021, but in 1996 this was cool as a cucumber. The “going out” shirt is a tradition that’s long gone, but it’s nice to remember a time when people dressed up to go out. These men cared about the way they looked, and the way they dressed. They knew that the better they looked, the better they’d feel. The better they feel, the better night they’d have.
Swingers is a coming-of-age film. It’s one of the first films that taught young men how to dress, and how to talk. It got guys into older music. It’s a low-budget movie that packs a ton of charm and timelessness. There are few films cooler than Swingers. At the end of the day, that’s what it was about: being cool. Feeling cool In your own skin. The message is that you didn’t have to go looking for it. You had it all along. We’re all money. Just few of us already know it.
Peace and Love
