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Edinburgh University
Film Society 47 Years of Student Run Cinema 1963-2010 Student Film Society of the Year 2002, 2005, 2006 |
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Doug Liman, USA, 1996, 96 minutes
Mike (Jon Favreau) is money, but baby, he doesn’t know it. See, he had this fine baby in the Big Apple, but she’s long gone. Now he’s in the Big Smoke and he ain’t letting go and enjoyin’ all the beautiful Californian babies. He needs help, and Trent (Vince Vaughn), his buddy from back home, is more than happy to oblige.
Filling in our neurotic everyman on the nuances of the dating game in L.A., Trent leads his motley crew of swingers through the clubs and faux-lounges of California. They play the scene and try to pick up babies, all the while indulging in the hysterical lingo that Trent has evolved from his time on the club circuit. Imagine this film, if you will, as a guide to dating etiquette for the modern male in the Hollywood subculture of Lounge ’n Swing. You too can be a “big bad bear” and pin that “little bunny” if you follow Trent’s advice.
We travel from the sleaziness of Vegas, through the smoky clubs of Hollywood, to a sweet and fitting dénouement, which shows that nice guys don’t always finish last. The pairing of Favreau and Vaughn sizzles and drives the story along with incredible ease, mainly because they are, they admitted, essentially playing themselves.
If you like swing music, a lounge lizard lifestyle and cracking dialogue that you and your friends will quote to each other for years to come, then this is the film for you!
Review by Claire Devlin
Taken from EUFS Programme Spring 2004
The producers of this film say "get a nightlife". Filmsoc would agree, and on that note we'd recommend coming to the pleasance at 6.30pm to watch this film! Telling the story of Trent Walker [played by Vince Vaughn], the smoothest guy in the west of the USA, taking his depressed friend Mike Peters [Jon Favreau] out to Vegas following a painful break-up, they encounter high-stakes blackjack players, Sunset Strip beauties and a couple of hard-earned lessons in relationships, with cringes and laughs throughout.
Do you always "double down" on 11? Are you so "money" you can bag a babe from 10 yards? Not only will this film solve these problems for you, but the Swing Dance Society would be happy to show you a few moves you could try out at the club after that would be guaranteed to cut the dance floor up!
Review by Niko Ovenden
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2004