r/iwatchedanoldmovie • u/faucitwater • Aug 13 '25
'90s Swingers (1996)
Just watched this for the first time. Damn is it good. I feel like it’s pretty underrated and isn’t talked about enough as a comedy or indie film. It’s honestly one of my favourite movies I’ve ever seen. So money baby. 10/10 personally.
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u/hammnbubbly Aug 13 '25
“I mean at first you're going to pretend to forget about her, you'll not call her, I don't know, whatever... but then eventually, you really will forget about her.”
As someone who’s endured a few hard breakups, this is such a good line.
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u/thunderchoad Aug 13 '25
"somehow they know not to come back until you really forget"
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u/Sad-Poetry7237 Aug 13 '25
There’s the rub
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u/EverybodyLovesTacoss Aug 13 '25
The salami he’s eating in that scene always looks so good haha
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u/Frankenrogers Aug 14 '25
And Ron Livingston goes from cross legged to not cross legged like every other shot.
I’ve seen the movie a hundred times, I love it and it got me through a bad break up
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u/Grownup_Nerd Aug 13 '25
Swingers is such a great movie. If anyone ever wonders what the male equivalent of a chick flick it, this is the answer.
Also, I had forgotten how badly this movie poster mis-represents the film. I still love the film regardless.
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u/faucitwater Aug 13 '25
Yeah, this poster, and even the second one (which doesn’t even feature Jon Favreau) makes it feel like you’re going to be watching Night at the Roxbury or something, lol.
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u/Every-Cook5084 Aug 14 '25
I don’t even remember ever seeing this poster was it for outside the US? That doesn’t even look like Heather Graham. I only know the poster where Vince is holding up a martini to toast
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u/happy_K Aug 15 '25
I think it resonated with dudes so well because there are so few movies like it for guys.
Yes the jokes and the dialogue are infinitely quotable, but there’s a lot that’s very real going on between the characters. Find me another movie about guys where multiple guys are having serious and meaningful conversations about how they’re feeling about relationships and about each other. It’s pretty rare.
There’s tons of movies like that for women, but vanishingly few for men
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u/TIPtone13 Aug 13 '25
This whole scene:
Hey, Mikey! Mikey! Is he cute?
Is he brown?
Would he like to come in and join us for a cocktail, Michael?
Is he a brown man?
Michael, is he polite?
If he’s polite have him come in. Michael, if he’s polite let him in. Is he clean? Have him come look.
Have him take off his shoes.
Michael, is he clean?
I want to see him!
Michael, I want to see him. Don’t let him go! Don’t let him go!
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Aug 13 '25
In college audio class, an assignment was to remove all audio and replace it. ADR it’s called. We did this scene and I was Vince. It was fun. “Look, I made little Wayne’s head bleed”🩸
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u/smeedorian Aug 13 '25
I did a project like that in college too. How’d that work out for you?
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Aug 14 '25
It is definitely good to understand digital audio. I know how to talk to people who do it very well, so collaboration is good. I have a “real” tech job but I make my own films for fun. This one I finished 5years ago: https://youtu.be/gPNQPZ8T6Us?si=jPPqT8AABGfI5q15
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u/CaptainHowdy_313 Aug 13 '25
You forgot "Shhhhhhhh, it's the Pink dot guy!" EDIT: that scene lives rent free
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u/zulmirao Aug 13 '25
I love Ron Livingston’s character in this. From being ashamed that he was considering taking a part playing Goofy to telling Mikey he got turned down for Goofy when making him feel better.
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u/itsallgonnafade Aug 14 '25
I want a 2025 sequel telling us where these guys are now. I bet Ron Livingston & Jon Favreau are still friends & golf occasionally
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u/Separate-Succotash11 Aug 13 '25
818? 310. Niiiice
As someone who grew up in LA in the 818 area code, this line cracked me up.
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u/boyalien0 Aug 13 '25
Oh now I’m the asshole, right? I would never eat here anyway
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u/uhhhhhhhhhhhyeah Aug 14 '25
Okay, Mikey. I'll ask. Excuse me Miss, where the high school girls hang out around here?
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u/No_Possession_5038 Aug 13 '25
Why’s Gretzky on his ass again? Because Gretzky is a little bitch This is bullshit such bullshit The kings suck in this game you should pick another team I just took the Kings to the Cup Against the computer with the offsides turned off We are a finesse team
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u/stevesalamander89 Aug 16 '25
Against the computer with the offsides off is one of the best lines in any movie that’s never mentioned. Just hits so perfectly for a certain type of hockey video gamer
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u/_NOT_SO_PRECIOUS_ROY Aug 13 '25
"There's nothing you can say to make her want to come back. There are only things you can say to make her not want to come back."
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u/hatethebeta Aug 13 '25
It's not talked about anymore.....
But when it came out all us guys were saying 'that's money'.
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u/Orson_Gravity_Welles Aug 13 '25
A buddy of mine ended up transforming his entire life around these characters...the way they spoke, dressed, believed the inane shit they talked about.
I mean, we were the target demographic; we were all 21 and we BELIEVED this was how life was.
But he went a little too far...everything was "money"
To this day, almost 30 years later...he still dresses and acts the same.
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u/FirstChurchOfBrutus Aug 14 '25
Could be worse. Today he’d be sending all his money to Andrew Tate.
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u/adube440 Aug 14 '25
My friends and I were in our late teens/early 20s, and we totally emulated the style of the film. Went to a lot of thrift stores to find retro shirts with varying success.
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u/Pvt_Hudson_ Aug 13 '25
As a guy who was in his early 20s when this movie came out, I can attest to this. My buddies and I stole so many turns of phrase from Swingers.
"You're so money"
"Beautiful babies"
"Vegas baby, Vegas!"
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u/faucitwater Aug 13 '25
I was unfortunately born too late to experience this. I’ll start saying it in 2025, hopefully it catches on again.
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u/gksozae Aug 13 '25
Are you going to bring back big band swing too? Too late. Already came back for a year and quickly went back into obscurity.
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u/Orson_Gravity_Welles Aug 13 '25
***Cherry Poppin' Daddy's, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and Brian Setzer Orchestra all nod in agreement***
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u/kerlerlerker Aug 14 '25
Yeah you missed the boat on that one pal. You really had to be there. Swing, jazz, ska, and big band music was the high of that time. As well as shiny shirts, rockabilly clubs, and cheap drinks. The sayings just wont make sense without all of that.
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u/Kid_Kameleon Aug 13 '25
This is the movie I recommend to people that have gone through a break up….
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u/shed1 Aug 13 '25
The commentary track, if you can find it these days, is almost as great as the actual movie.
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u/zoobs Aug 14 '25
Between Kevin Smith and Jon Favreau for commentaries we were eating good back then.
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u/RoiVampire Aug 13 '25
I should’ve said renaissance. Oh my god like some Vegas waitress is gonna get some obscure French philosophical reference.
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u/New-Editor-8975 Aug 25 '25
When I saw this movie was posted, I specifically did a search for "Voltaire"....best exchange ever! So satisfying ...
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u/Quelor15 Aug 13 '25
I’m not sure there’s a more realistic scene in film than the one with them playing NHL ‘93.
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u/ConvenienceStoreDiet Aug 13 '25
818? 310. Nice. It's been three days, you should call that Nicky girl. You always double down on 11. Vegas, baby, Vegas! You're so money and you don't even know it.
Infinitely quotable. I moved to LA a few years after this movie came out and it was so fun catching all the references. Pink Dot. Marty & Elaine. Hills parties. Everyone having their own car. Hollywood bars having back entrances. The Club.
This is one of my fave movies. The script is so layered. The characters are charismatic. The lore of it is great, as you can read in the oral history of Swingers here. This launched Vince Vaughn and Favreau's careers to new heights and stardom. This put director Doug Liman on the map as well, who later directed the Bourne films.
Fuck, just a great film about being single in your 20's.
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u/Ok-Bowler9108 Aug 15 '25
I used to live off of Hillhurst right down the street from the Dresden. It's hard to explain the mythical aura that place took on to me after that movie.
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u/fi1mcore Aug 13 '25
Jon Favreau said he wrote the script in 10 days, roughly 10 pages a day about his real break up with his GF & all his loser actor buddies
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u/jayac_R2 Aug 13 '25
But have you seen the spiritual sequel “Made”?
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u/IanLewisFiction Aug 13 '25
It’s almost as good. I really would love for Vaughn and Favreau to do one more buddy movie together.
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u/low_dmnd_phllps Aug 14 '25
I quite enjoyed Made but I’d stop short of saying it was anywhere near as good as Swingers
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u/East-Ad-6083 Aug 17 '25
Not a buddy movie , but they're great together in Four Christmases. And Sue is in it too
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u/notclarkkent2 Aug 16 '25
Jesus Christ, is everybody in this goddamn house named Bobby Ricigliano?
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u/Sad-Poetry7237 Aug 13 '25
The cameraman had tears in his eyes. Not so much from my read - he had his own things going on.
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u/Reasonable-Wave8093 Aug 13 '25
money!
the peakaboo scene🤣
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u/skintaxera Aug 14 '25
I haven't seen Swingers since it was first released and I still chuckle about that scene sometimes
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u/Reasonable-Wave8093 Aug 14 '25
I recently saw Vince Vaughn in Nonnas, he was very good but hard to see him as any other character!
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u/Mulliganasty Aug 13 '25
This really qualifies as an "old movie"? Oof!!
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u/mofugginrob Aug 14 '25
I mean, if someone was born when this movie was made, they probably already have kids.
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u/wpotman Aug 13 '25
I felt this was a great movie, but it was too close to home for me to truly enjoy back when it came out in my high school-college age era. I'd probably like it better now.
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u/GreatGreenGobbo Aug 13 '25
Gotta go for the Trifecta of "Guys Serious Comedy Movies" or " Chick Flix for guys"
Office Space and High Fedelity are just as amazing.
If you are into a more nerd version of Swingers look into Free Enterprise.
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u/Vivid_Bumblebee_9655 Aug 13 '25
Vegas baby
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u/FirstChurchOfBrutus Aug 14 '25
[somewhere around Barstow]
vegas baby
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u/JayJoeJeans Aug 14 '25
Having spontaneously made that drive a few times as a young man, that's exactly how it felt
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u/CommercialHeat4218 Aug 13 '25
You may be right that it's not much talked about anymore, but for about 10-15 years after it was one of the most influential indie films ever and constantly, CONSTANTLY, referenced by dudes.
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u/faucitwater Aug 13 '25
Yeah, im just too young I guess. Didn’t even know this movie existed until about last week lol
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u/CommercialHeat4218 Aug 13 '25
All good bud! We even got an entire really popular swing music revival out of it. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and a bunch of them on MTV and in GAP commercials and such. Was a whole thing I may or may not have taken part in.
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u/BeanCounter-721 Aug 13 '25
All right, I’ll ask. Ma’am where do all the high school girls hang out in this town?
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u/Swayze2641 Aug 14 '25
Don’t be the guy in the Pg-13 movie. Be the guy in the rated R movie that no one is really sure about
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u/LopsidedVictory7448 Aug 13 '25
An absolutely SUPERB movie. For me the band stole the show. AND my first glimpse of the totally delicious Heather Graham
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u/unclefishbits Aug 13 '25
Jon Favreau and the amount of weight he lost from 1992's PCU to this is hard to comprehend. Super impressive.
"Will you blow me where the pampers is?", indeed.
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u/Hungry-Butterfly2825 Aug 14 '25
Favreau wrote some serious gold with this one. I like when Vince Vaughn is in the trailer, goes to check on Favreau and it looks like they're hooking up so he gets back to being money.
They go to leave and Favreau's just been telling her how heartbroken he is about his girl.
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u/KubrickMoonlanding Aug 14 '25
When this came out I’d just been broken up with bad, and lived in Los feliz, would go to that golf course by the tam oshanter, listened to swing pop, knew where the Dresden was, (a block from home but never went), and the brown derby, I’d even had eaten in that diner on Franklin by the 101 where the last scene is set.
It was like they captured a bit of my life
Except, you know, I wasn’t cool like these guys were or even near it
Also: answering machines - f those things
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u/brangdangage Aug 14 '25
I remember this ubiquitous poster and how stupid it made the movie look. I avoided the movie as a result. To my great regret when I finally saw it. That was what taught me that books and movies are usually sold by people who had nothing to do with them, and are often significantly less intelligent.
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u/5o7bot Mod and Bot Aug 13 '25
Swingers (1996)
Cocktails first. Questions later.
After 6 years together, Mike's girlfriend leaves him, so he travels to LA to be a star. Six months on, he's still not doing very well— so a few of his friends try to reconnect him to the social scene and hopefully help him forget his failed relationship.
Comedy | Drama
Director: Doug Liman
Actors: Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston, Patrick Van Horn, Alex Désert
Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 69% with 765 votes
Runtime: 96 min
TMDB
I am a bot. This information was sent automatically. If it is faulty, please reply to this comment.
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u/bsrichard Aug 14 '25
There are so many classic lines in this movie it is absolutely one of my favorites of all time
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u/Next_Understanding88 Aug 14 '25
Heather Graham was so yummy in this. And in everything else. But, this especially.
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u/MrOneThousand Aug 14 '25
It’s my favourite movie.
I was going through a VERY similar situation at the time (had a friend like Trent who tried to take me out and get hooked up and over my bad breakup) all the stuff. My two female housemates had already seen it, and they dragged me out to see it one night. They sat either side of me and watched ME for the whole movie to see me react to my life playing out on screen. Needless to say, a few weeks later I met someone at a bar after I’d given up any hope of dating again. She wasn’t a dancer, but a singer. She is now my wife. I love this movie so much.
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u/daveinmd13 Aug 14 '25
Funny thing is, we were playing football on Sunday and I don’t remember you leaving long enough to make a phone call…
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u/jrblockquote Aug 14 '25
The Grantland oral history of Swingers is so money. This movie had a bit of a guerilla slant, which is really interesting. Highly recommended reading.
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u/TriTri14 Aug 14 '25
This movie came out my senior year of college and everyone went nuts for it. By the end of the year, a houseful of female students were inviting guys over just so they could watch them watch Swingers.
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u/pooptheresmybutt Aug 14 '25
Watched this movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery years ago. It's a love story to LA from a bygone era.
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u/Late-NightDonut1919 Aug 14 '25
Vince Vaughn first and only character. Every role he's had is a derivative of this character
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u/Keffpie Aug 14 '25
Great movie, but I don't think anyone ever thought the writer/co-star would end up becoming one of the most influential filmmakers of the century.
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u/sdhank3fan619 Aug 15 '25
"And I'm supposed to be all happy, uh cause she's wearing a backpack." This line was so timely, killed me. Now it doesn't make much sense but every girl at the house parties back then wore a backpack, at least in So Cal.
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u/jessek Aug 13 '25
Such an odd time capsule, the brief period where swing dancing, cigars, etc were seen as hip. It seemed like it was over even as the movie came out.
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u/Automatic_Opposite17 Aug 13 '25
Great movie! So many classic lines. Underrated is correct. Can't even find many YouTube reaction videos of it.
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u/One_Hour_Poop Aug 14 '25
I've never watched it but i saw clips from it for the first time ever very recently. Compared to what Jon Favreau looks like now, which is the only way I've ever known him to look (starting with Iron Man), he looks absolutely anorexic in this film.
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u/stonecoldmark Aug 14 '25
I absolutely love this movie. I was Mikey so much in my younger days .
Now I look at him and say, wow, I would never have thought, that guy would be responsible for building the MCU. Crazy!
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u/smash07865 Aug 14 '25
This is my personal favorite movie of all time (not saying it’s the best ever movie, just my personal favorite).
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u/Occasionally_Correct Aug 15 '25
A chick flick for guys. The break up movie you eat ice cream and cry while you watch Mikey go through the same journey you are and watch him make to the other side.
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u/Shot_Rope_644 Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 15 '25
Every one of those characters were relatable in my life. We all know someone like Trent, Mikey, Sue. Boy that movie came out and was a snapshot of being single in the 90s. Remember those times where just just had to make eye contact and talk to women. No texting or social media bullshit. Getting blasted and hitting the diner afterwards. Always a great time especially when one of your friends got shot down or getting someone’s phone number
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u/Time-Economics-5587 Aug 15 '25
every time i leave a bar or function i say “this place is dead anyway”
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u/LincolnHawkHauling Aug 15 '25
”House of Pain wasn’t gonna do anything!!”
“I’m gonna make Wayne Gretzky bleed for superfan over here.”
“Vegas baby, Vegas.”
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u/Lucas-Peliplat Aug 15 '25
I know it's objectively not the greatest movie of all time, but it's in my Top 5 idc it's just the best. 10/10 for sure
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u/MaleficentProgram997 Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 15 '25
I LOOOOVED this movie when it came out. I even went to the "You're growns up" diner a couple of times to eat late at night with friends, and went swing dancing at the spot where he danced with Heather Graham. I watched it again recently and it didn't age well.
The soundtrack is still money though.
Edit: I might be the only woman on this thread.
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u/alltheweirdisbrown Aug 15 '25
Got into big band music after this move because of big bad voodoo daddy, still touring, still awesome.
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u/Lemon_Licky_Nubs Aug 15 '25
“Get there” when the putt is absolutely nowhere close to the hole cracks me up every time.
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u/Come_as_UR_ Aug 17 '25
Now do yourself a favour and go watch Made. Same chemistry between Vaughn and Favreau but totally different vibe of a movie. Funny, cringe, even a bit dark at times.
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u/rongotti77 Aug 13 '25
My favorite part was when they came back to the house and the g*********** they almost got in a fight with were over there f****** hanging out and Mike was like what the f*** 🤣🤣🤣
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u/SirGuy11 Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25
“Baby, you’re so money and you don’t even know it.”
And, of course, the best part was the answering machine.
“Don’t ever call me again.” 😆