Swingers The Rewatchables
Swingers poster
Swingers

What’s Aged the Best?

Opening credits; Vaughn and Favreau careers; This Place Is Dead Anyway guy; Vegas baby Vegas; Mikey-as-loser jokes; PG-13 line; Marty and Elaine; party-to-party convoys; diner hangouts; music; Vaughn-Favreau dynamic; Doug Liman; Ron Livingston and Heather Graham casting

In the discussion (15)
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:06Read transcript
  • The opening credits and their pictures of LA.
  • The careers of Vaughn and Favreau, which in 2003 might have seemed stuck after a grand slam out of the gate.
  • The "this place is dead anyway" guy, played by Alex Desert, says it twice when the place is not dead; nobody is paying attention to them.
  • "Vegas baby Vegas" was first heard here and reused liberally in columns.
  • The film establishes Mikey as a loser: Lisa is a Dorothy at the MGM Grand, the "not in Kansas anymore" line gets dead silence, and the comedian is the least funny guy.
  • The PG-13 movie line.
  • Marty and Elaine look exactly the same at the Dresden years later; one host saw them play midweek last fall and jokes they may be alien life forms.
  • Everyone driving in their own car in a convoy from party to party, as LA was until about 2014-15.
  • Hanging out in diners, a top-five hangout location; late coffee and pancakes are missed.
  • A college diner near Holy Cross called the Heritage, where a friend always ordered the Heritage; the 101 diner near the office is the diner in the movie; diners are a lifestyle on Long Island.
  • The hosts say diners have taken a big hit with COVID and many in LA have gone down.
  • The music has aged nicely.
  • The Vaughn-Favreau dynamic and 25-year careers, seen at an early stage here.
  • Doug Liman is called one of the 10 or 12 most successful directors of the last 30 years, a risk-taker good with actors, discussed on the Edge of Tomorrow podcast.
  • Ron Livingston and Heather Graham were caught right before fame; Livingston is likable and almost the moral conscience; Graham made this and Boogie Nights within about six months.