BY MIKEY MIGO
This 1996 indie dramady is one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s not at the top of my list or anything, but it’s close enough. I’ve found myself going back to this movie every couple of years and getting something new out of it. It’s just a great movie. I still feel like its Vince Vaughn’s best performance. Everything I’ve seen Vince Vaughn in after this pales in awesomeness. I’m not saying Vaughn isn’t talented. He’s great, but it’s just his performance as “Trent” is just that damn good. It’s also Jon Favreau’s best. I’ve enjoyed his other stuff in directing, writing, AND acting. He’s written, directed, or starred in classics like Iron Man, Made, and Elf. He’s a good got a great track record. Never the less, his writing and directing is great here. I can’t say enough about this movie’s awesomeness. The rest of the bomb cast was Heather Graham, Ron Livingston, Patrick Van Horn, and Alex Desert. The locations are kept simple. It’s a lot of apartments and a lot of bars. There’s some great scenes that you just can’t deny. That slow-motion walking scene, “Mikey’s the big winner!”, that emotion wrenching phone scene, the fight, the “what kind of car do you drive?” bitch, the Goofy themepark gig, the “Go Daddy! Go!” dance scene, and just the whole swagger of the movie. It’s a 90’s wanna-be rat pack crew full of loud mouths and know-alls… but you still want to hang out with them. The friendship between Vaughn and Favreau is pretty easy to see. Their chemistry and back-and-forth is up there with the best of acting friends. I’m having a hard time thinking of a better example of modern comedic chemistry. Then we’re right in the middle of “Mikeys”(Favreau) relationship break down. He’s dealing with a bad break up and is at that embarrassingly painful peak of loneliness, despair, and being lost. I think this is just as important, if not more, than the friendship of “Mikey” and “Trent”. We follow “Mikey” through his pain, you cringe when he gets more and more pathetic, you want him to get up and get out there. It pays off in the end. It’s not an absolute closure. We don’t know if Heather Graham and him fall in love forever and live happily ever after. I love the layers of this movie. We have friendship, swagger, love, music, youth, wit, and a heightened sense of hope. All we know is that he’s moving on and is back on his feet. I’d be crazy to ignore the biggest pop culture contribution. The whole line and phrase of “VEGAS, BABY!” has been added to the lexicon. The weird thing is that I don’t know if everyone who drops the quote actually knows this movie is the source. That’s the fun part of this. I don’t believe I even touched on all the big moments and even the big little moments of this 94 minute journey. This movie is one memorable moment after one memorable moment. That’s what makes a great movie though, isn’t it? A
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