Directed by Doug Liman in 1996 and written by Jon Favreau, Swingers was one of those rare breed comedies that actually went on to garner not only deserved critical acclaim but to develop a serious cult following as well. The story is based around the exploits of two twenty-something guys - Mike (Favreau) and his best pal Trent (Vince Vaughn). Mike has been down in the dumps for months now since the end of a long term relationship and Trent is doing everything he can to pull him out of his funk. He decides that what the two of them need is an impromptu trip to Vegas, so they ditch Los Angeles for a night and head to sin city for a little fun. Though the gambling heads south fast, the pair wind up picking up a cocktail waitress and her friend and heading back to her trailer for a little fun. While Trent comes close to getting lucky, Mike just can't stop talking about his ex and how broken hearted he is over al of this.

Mike's career isn't going much better than his love life, and while he's still hoping to make it as a comedian, he can't even seem to land third tier roles, let alone headlining gigs. This doesn't stop him from trying, however, and after Trent and a few other friends basically drag him on a tour of Los Angeles parties and nightclubs and make him play hockey on a video game system, he finally starts to pull out of his bad spot and come into his own.

Very much a character piece, Swingers doesn't have a particularly complicated plot - it's really quite simple, it just follows Mike as his friends rally around him in their own quirky way and try to support him during a tough time. That said, it's plenty effective and anyone who has ever been in a funk over a broken heart will certainly understand not just where Mike is coming from but where Trent and the rest of the guys are as well. It's only natural to want to pull your friend out of a funk and get him back to the 'fun guy' he once was, and the movie taps into this. It also taps into the pitfalls of trying to make it in Hollywood. There's a reason Vince Vaughn's character uses the word 'money' as an adjective to describe everything good in life and there's a reason he's so hung up on looks and on scoring with all the 'beautiful babies' around him. The film makes some interesting statements about L.A.'s shallow culture but also points out that there are people out there who supersede that and who are worth spending time with. The whole thing has an interesting personal touch to it, and Favreau's script and Liman's direction certainly give you the impression that there's more than a little autobiographical insight working its way into the story.

Ultimately the film manages to find a nice balance between funny and cool, goofy and sweet, sincere and superficial. The performances of Vaughn and Favreau anchor the film perfectly, the first about as cool as they come, dashing and handsome and charismatic, the second a little awkward and maybe not quite as comfortable in his own skin. They make a great team here, their friendship entirely believable and their dialogue a big part of what makes the movie work as well as it does. Supporting efforts from John Livingston and a completely charming Heather Graham stand out as well, helping to flesh out the cast nicely. The film is well shot, capturing some great locations in Las Vegas and Los Angeles and features an appropriately cool soundtrack made up of some from the likes of Dean Martin ('You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You' being a pretty appropriate choice to open the movie with!) and Tony Bennett to Heart, Lawrence Welk, George Jones and, of course, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (whose career got a pretty big boost when this movie came out).

Video:

Swingers probably looks as good here as the source material is going to allow for, given that it was a fairly low budget independent production and all. Grain lovers will appreciate the fact that this aspect of the movie's look hasn't been tinkered with or turned into a smeary noise reduction fest, and detail is certainly improved over the previous DVD release. Color reproduction looks good when compared to that past release as well, though it isn't on par with bigger and brighter Hollywood productions. Skin tones look nice and natural and black levels are fairly good as well. There aren't really any obvious problems with the encoding here, the image is pretty strong for what it is. This isn't going to be your 'go to' disc for video quality, but those who are used to how this movie looks will be absolutely fine with this Blu-ray presentation even if those new to the film might be a bit taken aback. The picture probably could have been cleaned up more than it has been here, but this is part of the movie's 'look' so most fans will probably be okay with the image.