Swingers

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The beauty of Swingers lies in the irony of its title: Despite their lounge-lizard posing, these guys will never really live up to their Rat Pack dreams.

San Francisco Examiner Jane Ganahl

Like a Les Brown tune, a really dry martini and a hug from a good buddy, Swingers makes you feel warm all over, baby.

Mr. Showbiz F. X. Feeney

Has such perfect pitch in small matters that, as it builds, it proves no less capable in tackling bigger issues--and what begin as chuckles become deep belly laughs.

Time Richard Corliss

Despite some rough edges and language, this is at heart a beguiling fantasy of comradeship.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Suspicious and hilariously self-absorbed, Favreau's every bit as comfortable in California as Charles Grodin's "Heartbreak Kid" was in Miami. [18 October 1996, p. C3]

The Onion (A.V. Club) Stephen Thompson

Swingers has something genuinely rare: a fine script and realistic characters.

Newsweek Andrea C. Basora

Director Doug Liman has an impressive eye for detail and an even better ear for dialogue, producing a perceptive and delightfully funny take on the buddy movie.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Confident of its emotional effects, Swingers knows how to breathe life into its people, and hooking audiences is its reward.

TNT RoughCut Tom Park

Hilarious.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Engaging, refreshingly human in its humor and becomingly modest in its aspirations, this hip look at being out of it announces some promising new talent and will play well with young audiences looking for comfortable entertainment that doesn't feel manufactured.

Austin Chronicle Alison Macor

Actor-screenwriter Favreau and director Liman demonstrate with Swingers that they're definitely "money."

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

It's no masterpiece, but it's real.

USA Today Andy Seiler

Uneven, amateurish and borderline misogynistic. But it's also very funny, and it never loses its cool.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie is sweet, funny, observant and goofy with a small ``g,'' which means you don't get paid, but at least you don't have to wear the suit.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Doesn't really add up to much -- except a good time. But it's smart, funny and cute. With all that going for you, who needs to be money? [25 October 1996, Friday, p.H]

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

It's a "First Wives Club" for single guys, giving voice to a whole range of authentic, if not always responsible, attitudes and emotions.

Film.com Robert Horton

For the most part, a delight.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

What counts here aren't the girls, but the boys--and all the sweet and clumsy ways in which they make love to one another without once shedding their clothes.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Movies about the trajectory from outsider to insider in LA social and professional circles--the two always seem inextricably linked--are a dime a dozen, but this one is fresh, thanks to a script by lead actor Jon Favreau that lets us know Mike knows he resembles a character in a movie even if he doesn't know he is one.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Enjoyable in a shallow way, but there's nothing so special here that it warrants more than a cursory glance.

TV Guide Frank Lovece

The genial humor is occasionally marred by an overall sexist tone and some downright nasty homophobic and racist attempts at humor.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

There're some low New York laughs in Swingers and some nice clothes if you like bad taste, but on the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia. At least they know how to make a sandwich in that town!

Film.com John Hartl

It's a very movie-conscious movie, and that aspect of it palls.

Dallas Observer Jimmy Fowler

Film critics are put in a difficult position when they see a movie that's well-made but features characters so unbelievably odious you wouldn't want to spend two minutes with them in real life.

Film.com Tom Keogh

This is a pretty leaden cinematic experience.