Swingers' lounge lizards Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn are reunited as a pair of feckless part-time boxers who try to make something of themselves by becoming inept bagmen for the Mafia. Favreau (who also wrote and directed) just wants to do right by his stripper girlfriend (Famke Janssen) and her angelic little daughter, while Vaughn is hilariously grating as a crude, obnoxious schmuck, convinced he's now on his way to becoming a crime syndicate player. What he doesn't realize is that he gets on the very last nerve of everyone around him, including Favreau and, more importantly and dangerously, the high-rolling gangster they've been sent to work for (Sean "Puffy" Combs) by their boss (Peter Falk). The same quarrelsome Favreau-Vaughn chemistry that made their earlier collaboration tick also beats at the heart of Made, but Vaughn almost steals the movie with a deliberately irritating performance that leaves you thinking he's going to get whacked (and later hoping he'll get whacked). Ultimately, not as memorable, quotable or mirth-provoking as Swingers, but Favreau taps into that same boys-will-be-boys atmosphere with considerable success. Recommended. (R. Blackwelder)
Made
Artisan, 94 min., R, VHS: $110.99, DVD: $24.98, Nov. 27 Volume 16, Issue 6
Made
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