Critic's Grade: B

In "Swingers," we're introduced to a guy named Mikey (Jon Favreau), an all-around kind of guy who spends his days in Los Angeles searching for ways to forget about the girlfriend he left back in New York City six months ago. He complains to his friends that he is unable to cope with the fact that she has not called in the months since he left, and he is plagued with wondering why she hasn't called, and what reasons could exist for this. In short, he's basically obsessed.

His friend Trent (Vince Vaughn), a fast-talking, smooth-looking, trend follower with bravado and machismo appeal to spare attempts various methods of trying to bring Mikey out of his relationship rut. He takes him on a nightly outing to Las Vegas, where the two blow three hundred dollars and end up spending the morning with a waitress and an actress as a way of opening Mikey up to new avenues of getting over his grief. For a moment, it looks as if he truly will take the plunge, but no sooner does Trent leave the room than he begins talking about his past.

As far as movies go, the first and second acts of "Swingers" are a tough sell. We watch as the characters drift from place to place, bar to bar, party to party, and I'm telling you, the interest in watching this is about the equivalent of that blonde standing next to you at a party that just won't shut her mouth. We're not sure of where the material is headed, and on more than one occassion, it appears to have no clear-cut destination.

The characters themselves are equally uninteresting. Vaughn's character's constant ramblings about making it big with the ladies and his unending utterings of the words "money" and "baby" become annoying and obnoxious. In Favreau, however, we see the beacon of hope, that light at the end of the tunnel that we're almost certain is going to salvage what is left of the material and make it at the very least watchable.

And that he does (if you have not seen the movie, you may not want to read on from here). Mikey happens upon a shy girl named Marie (Heather Graham) in a bar one night: the two share a very passionate dance that really kicks things up for the audience as well as these two characters, who also share the experience of letting go of someone they loved before. After this, see his character begin to realize how much of his time he wasted, and how much easier it is to find someone without resorting to the tactics of dressing like "money" and flaunting cash and testosterone all over the place.

And that's the beauty of "Swingers," its ability to resurrect what appears to be moribund material through a single character's uplift. That we have come to root for Mikey as a human being gives us a reason to understand him, why he refuses to act like his friends, and why he clings to a life that no longer exists: because he has a heart.

Through his eyes, we also come to the realization that the over-the-top methods of his friends in their attempts to get phone numbers and a piece of booty aren't so different from the tactics used by people in real life. The dating system seen in "Swingers" is so intune to the workings of our society's singletons, bringing out the desperation that so many people hide beneath image, appearance, and attitude. Mikey is someone who sees these traits in those who surround him, and he doesn't want it; he's better than that. He can do more than that. It's nice to see that people can still come together in a relationship without resorting to these influences, and for that, the movie is a winner.

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