Made is essentially the follow up to Swingers. This time it’s both written and directed by Jon Favreau as well as starring him and his erstwhile partner in crime, Vince Vaughn. It’s not a direct sequel so none of the characters are the same but it has the same dry wit and smart dialogue.

Favreau plays Bobby, a struggling boxer who wants a better life for his stripper girlfriend (played by Famke Janssen who co-starred with Favreau in the excellent “Love & Sex” which I definitely recommend) and her 4 year old daughter. Vaughn plays his childhood buddy Ricky, a - how would you describe it - loser with aspirations that far outweigh his capabilities. These aspirations involve becoming a “made” man i.e. working for the mob. Except that he’s already worked for the mob and pissed them off or at least royally pissed off Peter Falk who happens to be Max, the mob boss.

Anyway, Bobby and Ricky end up doing a job for Columbo Max which takes them to New York on mob business. What ensues is definitely a comedy more than anything else and a comedy of embarassment thanks to Vaughn’s over reaching ambitions and idealised fantasies about mob life.

Made is a good, very enjoyable film. It does suffer from some of the same issues that Swingers had - dialogue is very quick and it’s sometimes difficult to discern what’s going on. The characters are well played and the story works well. You never quite know how it’s all going to pan out and whether it’s all going to end up well or turn into the Wild Bunch. (And I’m not going to spoil it for you but I will say I was impressed by the way it turned out). The supporting cast is excellent, not only Falk and Janssen but also Sean “P. Diddly Puff Daddio” Combs and Faizon Love as well as Vincent Pastore from the Sopranos.

To be honest, you could do better than treat yourself to a double bill of this and Swingers in one evening. Just don’t think that the Favreau/Vaughn pairing is always worthwhile though - The Break-Up was shit.