You’re So Money and You Don’t Even Know It

There is no more annoying holiday than Valentine’s Day. If you are coupled up, you have to fret with what you have to give them and if not you care constantly reminded foe a week how lonely you are. Whenever I fell in the latter category I would have a Valentines routine of playing Love Stinks by the J. Geils Band on a loop capped off with a showing of Swingers. Not so coincidentally Swingers is this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame.

Swinger completely sums up dudes in their twenties. Where most movies that try this end up being drug and sex romps with wild parties and unrealistic plot lines, Swingers hits every subtle nuance of the time. It is hard for any guy to watch the golf scene and think, “yeah, that’s exactly how I add up my strokes.” And the movie was the first film I remember that show guys sitting around playing video games that end up in blood both on and off the television.

The film is at its best when the guys are sitting around arguing about the most absurd things like how long you should wait to call a girl after getting her number (Industry Standard became an integral part of my vocabulary after the film). And they even nail the heartbreak of the end a long relationship and the buddies helping him get back on the horse again. Even the new dictions and the addiction to swing they invent for the film eventually doesn’t stand out while watching. Speaking of swing, I think this may be the last time a movie effectively shift pop music after its release, albeit for a short time.

Swinger also launched the careers of Jon Favreau, who also wrote the film, and Ron Livingston (Office Space). But the film really belonged to Vince Vaughn who, after trying to transition into a serious actor with range (seriously, the Psycho remake?) has finally embraced Trent and now only plays slight variations of him. C’mon, like you weren’t watching Wedding Crashers and thinking that was Trent a decade later. But the most astounding break out star of the film was Heather Graham who actual landed quality roles for a year after Swingers before people realized she couldn’t act.