Made

Rating:
Summary: Stop comparing this to Swingers.
Review: They're different movies, you have to start looking at it that way. This is an amazing take on the gangland genre, because it shows a side of it that most movies never dare to even consider -- how a typical "drop" might actually go down when executed by a couple of people who are completely unprofessional...

This movie uses cliches to its advantage by turning them on their heads. It has a lot of darkly funny moments and a hell of a lot of tension, and it has nothing to do with Swingers. It stands alone as a fine, brilliantly conceived and executed flick.

Rating:
Summary: Swingers II: The Final Conflict
Review: Don't get your hopes up. The story here, of Favreau as a loser-ish boxer getting dragged into friend Vaughn's idiotic dreams of becoming a mobster, isn't much to hang jokes on, although Favreau does his best. Watching Vaughn screw up time and again gets a little repetitive, and the larger chemistry of a group of friends is missing.

Three stars may be a bit rough--the movie is entertaining and funny, and nowhere does it threaten to turn into a [movie] like Bowfinger (only old comedians gone stale can make a movie that terrible). But ultimately the movie is simply forgettable, with non-existent quotable dialogue and situations that seem trapped between their plot points.

Rating:
Summary: Funny spoof of mobster movies
Review: In 1996 writer / director / actor John Favreau made a quirky comedy that spoofed the LA lifestyle. It was called Swingers, and it became a cult classic. In Made, his new movie, he again takes comedic aim, this time at petty criminals and gangsters. The results are quite funny, not because of the rather slim story, but because of the incredible rapport between Favreau and costar Vince Vaughn, whom he also acted with in Swingers. They make quite a pair, and one would hope that their appearing together in movies becomes a tradition over the years.

Bobby [Favreau] has a messed up life. He's a professional boxer, but he isn't a very good one. To support himself, he's a driver for his live-in girlfriend, Jessica Famke Jenssen]. She's an exotic dancer, and he's the jealous type. That's not a good combination. After Bobby slugs a customer he thinks got too close to Jessica, he finds himself in trouble with his and Jessica's boss, Max [Peter Falk], a sort of minor league mob boss in LA. At home Bobby, who at heart is a good guy, must deal with Jessica's sensitive little girl. He's much more of a father to her than Jessica is a mother. Sensibly, Max relieves Bobby of his job of protecting Jessica by offering him something else. He wants him to see that a mysterious package is safely delivered to a British mobster in New York. Bobby agrees, but only if he can take his best friend, Ricky [Vaughn], along. It's an understatement to say that the trip does not go smoothly.

The story may not sound like much. It certainly isn't original. Favreau wrote the screenplay, and this is a good example of success not in what you say, but how you say it. He also throws in this idea: Bobby and Ricky have been best friends since childhood. They have shared nearly everything. Now comes a great opportunity Bobby naturally wants to share with his friend. The problem is that Ricky is an idiot. He always messes up whatever he touches. He doesn't know how to shut up, he doesn't know when to keep the truth to himself, he thinks he's always right, and he can make life's simplest choices extremely complicated.

I can relate to this comic setup. I think a lot of us can. Don't many of us have a friend or close relative who's not working with a full deck? I don't say this to be unkind. It's just a fact. And out of loyalty, compassion, habit and/or even out of love, don't we sometimes include that person in our affairs, even though common sense tells us not to? Such people may be a mess, but they can also inadvertantly make our lives somehow richer.

Favreau's character is the central one, but, as a director, he choses to highlight Vaughn's Ricky. This works because Vaughn is such a remarkable actor. To be sure, he has a lot of idiosyncrasies which have played against him when he has tried to be a leading man in other projects. There is a wildness about him and just a touch of menace, but it's more of a menacing humorousness than an evil aura. Give him an oddball character like Ricky, and he's in his element. His genius lies in his ability to take such a goof ball and make him real and endearing. A lesser actor would have made Ricky so obnoxious we never could have related to him. That, in turn, would have ruined the movie.

Rating:
Summary: "Do you see a pattern forming here?"
Review: This movie is one of the funniest flicks I've seen in a looooong time. I laughed so hard at the infamous "Screech" scene I thought I was going to pop a blood vessel in my brain.

Fans of "Swingers" should slip into this one like an old shoe. That same chemistry, character driven story and fast paced dialogue that made "Swingers" so great is back two-fold. Favreau and Vaugn are seen here doing what they do best and I din't think they're ever as good without each other. The extra features like deleted scenes and outtakes are just as funny as the movie. Watching these guys go into hysterics during in the outtakes shows just how much fun they had making the movie with each other something that is definitely reflected in the movie itself.

I read some of the negative reviews here and I haev to say I just don't get it. Within days this movie has become a classic among all my friends. I've yet to show it to anyone who hasn't liked it. I'll admit that the dramatic moments can sometimes feel a little too dark and out of place, but as Favreau notes in the commentary the tension creates a different kind of laughter: the nervous kind.

Anyway, this is a must for any "Swingers" fan. If you hated "Swingers" you'll probably hate this. Of course, if you hated "Swingers" you should probably climb back into your space-ship and return to whatever planet you came from. We've nothing for you here.

Rating:
Summary: Good movie, great for Vaughn/Favreau fans
Review: _____Of course, everyone who sees this movie has to relate it to Swingers. And yes, Vince Vaughn is so annoying that you will want to throw a steel chair into your RPTV just to shut him up. But the movie is really more than that, with subtle character development and very dark comedy.

_____The first 15 minutes really speak volumes about the two main characters. Favreau, character, Bobby, is a nice guy and a hard worker, but just can't cut the mustard when it comes to doing something well. And Vaughn's character, Ricky, is an incredible screw-up who can't take anything seriously.

_____Throughout the movie, the inherent flaws of both characters are meant to make you slap your forehead in disgust. Why is Ricky so darn annoying?! And why can't Bobby say the right thing to shut him up?

_____The movie was filmed in the same style as Swingers, with that low-budget anti-hollywood indie look. Very nice.

_____If you rent this movie, try to look past Vaughn's annoying method of acting, and pay attention to the little things that help characterization and plot development. You will find that the movie is funny and appealing.

_____Of course, if you are a big fan of this duo, then you can't miss this movie. It is "classic" Vaughn at his annoying best!

Rating:
Summary: F.... this
Review: This basically sums up the movie's vocabulary.
Vince Vaughn's character Ricky uses F... in every sentence. This movie blows, don't even waste the 5 bucks to rent it and 2 hours of your life. Vince Vaugn's character is even more annoying than his character in Swingers... If you want to see him in a decent acting performance watch RETURN to PARADISE.
Jon Favreau's career has gone down the drain after he starred in RUDY and lost weight. Cameos from P Diddy and Sopranos stars add nothing to make the movie any better.

Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: "Swingers meets Goodfellas" - This is what this movie is touted as on the VHS box at the video store - supposed to be a good thing I assume. God do we get to find out there can be nothing worse.

First and foremost, I loved Swingers - a must see movie with witty one-liners and concepts. I say that this movie is Swingers II, except with no funny lines, a ridiculous plot, and very nearly unwatchable. Jon Favreau, a two bit boxer, is banging Famke Janssen, a sripper? Need I say more? Vince Vaughn's character is soooo annoying - I'm talking take curling up in a ball when Mikey makes his six calls to Nikki's answering machine and add a violent strichnine reaction with a bad acid trip and you've got watching his character. Vince's character is like T, except with no game whatsoever.

Then you have the plot. Can anybody figure out what the hell happened at the end, when Jon Favreaur turns into this sensitive guy who wants to take care of his strung out girlfriend's little kid. Stupid.

Swingers fans, do yourselves a favor - YOU DO NOT NEED TO SEE THIS MOVIE. The only movie worse than this that I've seen flipping through my movie channels is Coyote Ugly.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious, Packed with extra's, Vince Vaughn outtakes!
Review: By the same creative team that brought the 1996 cult 'Swingers', both Jon Favreau and buddy Vince Vaughn lay down another classic and artful black comedy on a limited budget.

Writer/Director/Star Jon Favreau brings us the tale of two average guys trying to make ends meet in Los Angeles. Bobby (Favreau) is construction by day, boxer by night, and driver to his stripper girlfriend after that just to make enough to pay the rent. His buddy Ricky (Vaughn), sans any steady girlfriend, is in the same boat. Wanting to better their lives, if only just slightly, they agree to do a 'mobster' type job for off-and-on again shady boss Max (Peter Falk).

This brings our amateur mobsters to New York. Armed only with a pager, a cell phone, $3,000 between them, and no directions they are on a whirlwind adventure through the Big Apple trying to figure out what they are supposed to do. It seems that the underworld of drugs and money are always one step ahead of our bumbling duo, who are trying to keep their wits and piece the puzzle together. But that's not easy when Ricky, who never had this kind of money before (or responsibility for that matter) wants to treat their assignment as a vacation. Money for drinks, parties, clubs, food. His hi-jinks almost cost them their lives on more than occasion. A modern day Abbott and Costello.

The cast of characters they meet up with are pretty funny on their own. There's their driver Jimmy (... from the Soprano's), black drug lord who likes Italian food (Puff Daddy) and his overweight body guard Horace (who needs an inhaler). Famke Jannsen plays Bobby's girlfriend. The scene back in Ricky's hotel room after a night of partying is classic (don't miss the extended version in the extra's section where Vince Vaughn ad-libs for 10 minutes).

There are many ingredients that make this a great movie: Strong characterization, a fresh story (not your typical mob movie), many cameo's (you'll recognize a few people from the Sopranos and more), great music, and most importantly Vince Vaughn's improvisation and ad-libs of many of his key scenes.

I really don't want to give the entire story or ending away here in this review, but it is very refreshing, satisfying, and not exactly what one would expect.

Now the DVD:
While the movie is only 94 minutes long, there are tons of extra's which really surprises me for a film that wasn't considered a block buster. All second-tier DVD's should have this many extra's at this price. It is a GREAT value!

Extras:
- Alternate scenes and endings (quite a few here).
- Outtakes (25+min. This is worth the DVD alone. See Vince Vaughn do multiple version of many of his key scenes in total improv. No two takes are the same, and you'll die laughing (as apparent by onscreen buddy Jon who can't keep a straight face) and wonder where does Vince come up with this stuff!!!)
- Deleted scenes (at least 20 minutes worth and they are funny).
- Commentary with Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau.
- Actors filmographies and bios.
- 3 documentaries (about 45 minutes total), The making of 'Made', the music of 'Made', the creative process.
- Both used and unused music cue's. (Very novel idea, the first I've seen on DVD and now wonder why other don't have this?)
- Scene selection.
- Interactive editing game/demonstration. (Kinda cool)
- Production notes.

Rating:
Summary: After the greatness of Swingers we get this tripe ?
Review: Vince Vaughn's character was so overdone as to make this film impossible to watch. My wife stopped 15 minutes into it, I made it a little over 45 minutes. This is what we got from the guys who made swingers ? It's just plain awful.

The plot could have worked out to be funny, but instead of being funny, it just got tired. Vince Vaughn plays a clueless slacker who uses his friend to get work and wants badly to be a gangster like he's seen in movies such as "Casino". Now, if the part had been played properly, it would have come off funny, instead, it just gets more and more grating by the minute. I really wished his character would have been killed off early.

The plot was pretty good, but VV's character was , as I've said, so overdone and annoying, you just can't take it.

Rating:
Summary: Money baby!
Review: I have been watching Swingers over, and over since it first came out. I think it is a very, very funny and entertaining look at a man getting over his break-up. The fact that it was Jon Favreau's first screenplay impressed me very much, and I waited patiently for what was next.
I was pleasantly surprised watching Made. I heard it was a mob comedy, and thought that there was no way that it would come anywhere near the humor, and undercurrent of sweetness, that Swingers had. I was dead wrong.
Favreau and Vaughn are even better together in this film. The chemistry is amazing, and the story itself is pretty darn good.
The film is basically about two lifelong friends who have to go from Cali to New York as a favor for mob boss, Peter Faulk. Favreau's character is hesitant, but is basically forced into it because he recently screwed up his other job for the boss, bouncing for his stripper girlfriend. Vaughn plays the friend who is arrogant, ignorrant, and loud-mouthed. It isn't exactally Trent part 2, but it's close. It is more like Trent, without the winning charm. Vaughn's character has a way of angering everyone around him, and consistently screwing things up. The two play off each other very well. There are also some great moments between Favreau and his girlfriend's daughter. The rest of the cast also turn in good performances - including P.Diddy, who did an impressive job in his first role.
Without giving anything away, the twist in the story is never fully explained, although it isn't too complicated where you have to think about it for too long. That is about the only complaint that I had with the film, which was a very good directoral debut.
The extras on the DVD make it definately worth owning. There is a TON of bonus material here, including quite a bit of outtakes and deleted scenes. Unlike most DVDs, Made does distinguish between the deleted scenes, and the extended takes - putting them in different sections, which for me was a bonus. I was expecting a better commentary track than what is offered here. It is pretty entertaining, but after the chemistry that the duo showed in thier two movies, I was somehow expecting more. They do spout off plenty of info regarding the locations shot, casting, and don't stray too far off what's happening on screen. The telestrator feature gets a little overused by Vaughn, but you can always turn it off.
Overall, a very good movie that should be a must buy for fans of Swingers, or just DVD collectors looking for some good extras.