Made/Swingers (1996 & 2001)
Review by HTQ4
Films:
DVD:

This double feature set is being touted as "The Money Collection." If you haven't seen these movies, this set is a good rental (since most rental places will charge you as though it's one rental), but if you want to add these films to your collection, you'd be better off buying them separately. That way you'll get the special features on the Swingers disc as well. In-depth reviews follow...

Made
Written and Directed by Jon Favreau
Starring Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Sean Combs, Famke Janssen, Faizon Love, David O'Hara, Vincent Pastore, and Peter Falk

Features:

• Running audio commentary by Favreau and Vaughn with optional "Action Telestrator Illustrated" feature
  
• Deleted Scenes
  
• Outtakes
  
• Cast and Crew Information
  
• Three Documentaries:
  
  • Making the Music of Made
    
  • The Creative Process
    
  • Getting it Made
    
• DVD-ROM Interactive Screenplay Index
  

Ricky (Vaughn) has been riding Bobby's (Favreau) coat tails and mooching jobs for a long time now. Bobby's been trying to make it as a prize fighter, but his record just doesn't speak for itself. So, when Max (Falk) pulls Bobby aside and tells him that he's going to go on a special job, Bobby opens his big mouth and gets Ricky in on the deal, too. Armed with very little information, Ricky and Bobby head to New York to meet with some other Mafia types. However, things get more and more screwed up as Ricky continually refuses to shut his big mouth.

Favreau has written another hilarious film (his first, Swingers, is tacked onto this set--more on that below) and thankfully, he has brought Vaughn along with him for the ride again. These two make a great team and their chemistry really shines on screen. Favreau pens some wonderful storylines that are completely believable for all of the characters. The big surprise of this film, however, is Combs. That's right, I'm talking Puff Daddy...P. Diddy...whatever he's calling himself this week. He plays the Mafia guy Ricky and Bobby are set to meet in New York and steps up to the challenge beautifully. His character is remarkably suave, yet abrasive enough to put Vaughn in his place at any given moment. He blends with their chemistry very well.

The DVD does not disappoint, either. If you are familar with the individual standalone release of Swingers, you already know about the Action Commentary track option that is available. Essentially, it's an addition to the commentary track whereby the commentators can draw on the screen to draw your attention to whatever it is that they might be talking about. You can watch the commentary track either with or without this feature. However, since they are using the feature during the recording of the commentary, you really don't get the full effect of the audio without it.

The documentaries included are all very good. It's nice to have a series of mini-featurettes to watch when you actually care about the source material. "Getting it Made" talks about what it took to get the picture created, naturally, up to and including how the script got written and where the original ideas came from. It's really nicely done. "The Creative Process" goes into a little more detail about where the ideas came from and "Making the Music of Made," obviously, talks about the soundtrack (which, by the way, is great). The only problem that I have with them is they way they are laid out on the disc. Essentially, the three featurettes are part of the same larger featurette, they are just broken up to look like more on the menu. You do have the option to play them back to back, though. I don't know, I guess it just feels kind of lame to me to use that tactic to make your disc look more stacked than it actually is.

There is a wonderful collection of deleted and alternate scenes as well as outtakes. As with most of the deleted scenes on DVDs, it is obvious as to why they cut them out or shortened them. Probably the best part of this DVD is the collection of outtakes that they have assembled. There is a very large list on the menu and each one contains a substantive amount of individual outtakes for that particular scene. I was in absolute heaven.

If you are a fan of the music that was used in the film, there is a way for you to listen to each of the various music cues; both the ones used in the movie and the ones they discarded. There isn't much to look at while this is going on, but for listening to the music, it's really great. Then you have the Scene Edit Workshop, which is a feature that I'm not sure I will count as "special." You get to look at several different takes of the same thing and edit them together for your own version of that scene. It takes too long to work, and you are probably not going to be pleased with what you did after you spend the time playing around (I wasn't). If there is a positive side to it, it provides a newfound appreciation for film editors...and the knowledge that I probably wouldn't be very good at that particular profession. The rest of what remains on the special features menu is pretty common: trailers, cast and crew bios, and production notes.

The DVD-ROM feature is basically a way to look at the screenplay for the movie, by choosing the scene from a menu at the top of the screen. Then, should you desire to do so, you can view that scene as it actually appeared in the film; allowing you to see the similarities and differences between the two. Honestly, this doesn't mean a lot to me. Anyone who is a fan of movies knows that the screenplay is basically just a rough idea of what the finished product will look like.

Swingers
Written by Jon Favreau
Directed by Doug Liman
Starring Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston, Patrick Van Horn, Alex Desert, and Heather Graham

Mike Peters (Favreau) is a comedian who just moved out to Hollywood from New York because his agent told him they were throwing sitcoms at comedians out here and that he would be an idiot for staying in The Big Apple. This move also caused the breakup of a six year relationship with his girlfriend Michelle. Mike's buddies, Trent, Rob, Charles, and Sue (whose father was a Johnny Cash fan)--(Vaughn, Livingston, Désert, and Van Horn, respectively) know he is dealing with the hardship of this breakup, so they all try to do what any friends would do: get him laid. There's only one problem with that, Mike just can't get over Michelle. No matter how hard his buddies try to show him the ropes and get him back into the dating pool, all he can do around other women is talk about how great his relationship with Michelle was...that is until he meets Lorraine (Graham).

This movie starts out with the expectation that it is going to move along at a faster pace than it really does. But, once you settle in and realize Favreau is really taking his time setting up his comic bits, it is money (watch the film, you'll understand). If there were to be an Oscar clip from this film it would be where Peters meets a girl at a club, gets her number, and, upon getting home, calls her. She is not home, but he winds up leaving about eighteen messages on her machine over the course of about three minutes. These messages cover every stage of a male/female relationship and the scene is absolutely perfect in every way.

Every character in this story is 100% real. Make no mistake, it is a guy movie in that guys can really relate to the methods and tactics put in place by Peters' friends. However, I think women can get into this movie, too, because Peters' is the kind of guy that most women say are the ones they wish they could find: sentimental, funny, charming, etc. I actually wound up feeling sorry for the guy and I wanted to get up and help him out. That's what makes this movie work.

The version of the DVD does not taut the same list of special features as the "single" release does. In fact, all you get here is scene selections and trailers. If you are looking for special features for this film, you'd better stick to the individual release.