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© DSFC |
MADE
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| JACKIE BROWN, MALLRATS AND MADE | ||||||||||||
| by
jim MADE is a minimalist gangster wannabe flick that marks the reteaming of Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn, the indie heroes who's last collaboration was the surprise hit SWINGERS. SWINGERS reached almost mythical standing among the film geek crowd and is one of the true rags to riches success stories to come from the independent film explosion of the mid-to-late nineties. Favreau and Vaughn held court along side the likes of Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino. Their story takes a different turn from there, reports had the duo at each others throats (along with director Doug Liman) over an offer for a television show based on the cult phenomenon, and reportedly they vowed never to work together again. While their indie film contemporaries dealt with sophomore slumps and accusations of selling out, Favreau and Vaughn merely went their separate ways, each achieving a degree of success as actors in other people's films. Now, five years later, they are back together bringing us a serviceable comedy about two friends trying to make money as small time gangsters. Bobby (Favreau) lives with his stripper girlfriend (a disinterested Famke Janssen) and acts as her driver and bodyguard. After one too many overprotective outbreaks, their shady boss and father figure Max (Peter Falk) reassigns Bobby and, against his better judgment, allows him to bring his bumbling best friend Ricky (Vaughn) on as his partner. The job is simple, Ricky and Bobby go to New York and wait for instructions. Of course, things don't go so well, thanks to the thickheaded actions of ridiculously clueless Ricky. The boys dip in and out of trouble, kept going only thanks to Max's unwavering support of Bobby. No matter how many times they fuck up, Max bails them out and keeps them on the job. The story stays simple and relies heavily on the banter between the two friends. However, there is so little going on and so much repetition of events, that Favreau would have been better served creating his little opus as a short film. Vince Vaughn's shtick starts out funny, you can't believe what an oblivious asshole this guy is, but the act gets old really fast, especially because he's the only reason everything goes wrong on what should be a very easy job. The script never mixes it up or sets up Vaughn as the moronic hero who makes bad situations worse. The character could be a criminal variation on Clark Griswold and instead is only salvaged by the childlike eagerness of Vaughn. If this role had fallen into the hands of a less personable actor, Favreau's film would have been completely ruined by the ineptitude of the writing. Favreau, as an actor, is always solid and rarely great. MADE is no exception. Sean Combs makes his delayed film debut (he was replaced in Oliver Stone's ANY GIVEN SUNDAY) as New York gangster Ruiz, a short tempered rouge who is as equally hindered by Combs weak performance as Ricky is rescued by Vaughn's great one. The cinematography is dark and the camera work is vanilla. The scant use of score is the only thing notable about the film from a technical standpoint. As a first time feature director, Favreau fails the test. As a screenwriter, well, maybe he's suffering from the sophomore slump that has beset many writers, or maybe, just maybe, SWINGERS was a fluke and just a trifle overrated anyway. |
 ARRESTED FOR PUBLIC URINATION... AGAIN  FAVREAU DOES LITTLE TO DEFLECT RUMORS HE'S GAY  JENNIFER ESPOSITO IS HOT, BUT...  HOTTEST GIRL IN THE MOVIE: DREA DE MATTEO |
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