I want to talk about Vince Vaughn today. Why? Why not! For me Vaughn has tapped into a form of dry and arrogant charisma that we have only previously seen properly tapped by the likes of Chevy Chase. I want to look at his four best films today, ranging from the most absurd of comedies to the driest and most realistic of comedies. Vaughn’s serious work has less to be admired, with his work in the second (and rather bad) series of True Detective and the recent film Brawl in Cell Block 99 being his only real dramatic side of things standouts. We shall certainly not be talking about his Norman Bates here today. Funny in its own truly terrible way.
 |
| Credit |
Swingers (1996, Dir. Doug Liman)
 |
| Credit |
Where it all started for Vaughn was this Doug Liman directed, Jon Favreau scribed semi-autobiographical tale of a struggling actor getting over a bad break-up. Favreau wrote the film and conceived the three chief roles for himself, Vaughn and Ron Livingston more or less off of themselves, using real life dialogue more than a few times in the script taken from real exchanges the three men had during one of Favreau’s own personal terrible relationship ends. Favreau is great as this sad-sack persona being frightenly close to far too many real life situations that I know off anyway, time after time the ultimate cringe of the script and performances lead this to be frankly one of the funnier movies of the 90’s independent film boom. The film even pokes fun and takes knowing jabs and makes loving homage’s of the films in that boom, including Reservoir Dogs and to a lesser extent (independent wise) Goodfellas. So where does Vaughn fit into this equation? There’s a line in Rounders where Matt Damon talks about poker and comments on how if in this first round you don’t notice the crappy player (or whatever he says), then that player is you. I strongly feel that this formula can be equated to asshole friends. You know the type? Those screaming imbeciles that sometimes we love, but most of the time we despise. That’s Vaughn’s Trent in Swingers, for me the epitome of the absolute closest I could get to actually wanting to befriend someone like this. For me that’s purely down to Vaughn’s electric performance. Nothing but pure charisma, pure charm and for long stretches of the film pure hilarity. The awkward and truthful chemistry that Favreau’s Mike and Vaughn’s Trent share is what makes the movie work. As a matter of fact the original script was simply going to end with the culmination of Mike’s relationship plot, however it was the choice of Doug Liman to then add the scene that is now our ending, another hilarious scene shared by Mike and Trent as jokes are made and cringe-worthy realness also occurs. For me it’s the perfect ending to a pretty perfect independent classic with a very strong Vaughn performance bolstering a lovingly and brilliantly depicted plutonic male friendship.
Old School (2003, Dir. Todd Phillips)
 |
| Credit |
More or less a modernised version of the Animal House formula, one of the most influential and greatest (if also completely dated) comedies of all time, Old School more or less marked Todd Phillips first sincerely popular entry into the comedy landscape, before he would completely blow it up with The Hangover. Compared with The Hangover, Old School feels pretty small. It’s definitely not as good and whereas Hangover features multiple different brands of comedy, aswell a just plain killer script, Old School does boast many of the smaller things that would make Phillips a household name for a few years later in the decade. Our boy Vaughn however is the third lead, with this marking big moments for each of our three leads. It was perhaps the biggest leading man break Luke Wilson ever got in a major studio comedy beyond Legally Blonde. I think he’s great here by all accounts and I think a mix of dry and whacky comedy suited him well and was never bettered than in this film. This also marks a real make or break movie moment for Will Ferrell, which feels unheard of now, but this was a pretty big moment for his career. The hilarious midpoint streaking scene and the continuing arc of his character may very well be the most important and pivotal scene of his early career, aswell as being downright hilarious. Vaughn is more or less reprising his role as Trent, but this time as a father, which does actually lead to a sweet scene where his character in this film turns down a very willing girl. Sure, it’s not the biggest sacrifice we’ve seen on screen, but Vaughn makes the otherwise trite moment feel believable and a lot less saccharin than it could have been in others hands. The movie is dated in some regards and whereas with its influence Animal, which also features some truly terribly aged gags and scenes, it’s not always dealt with artfully or with skill or wit. In Animal House many of the gags still really land hard, you just have to catch yourself a little in the political correctness department. That’s not really the situation here, with most of the gags just not being worth the laughs in the first place. But it’s definitely not all of them. The movie is very funny in its own right. It’s just not as funny as Animal, nor Hangover. Come to think of it why one earth wasn’t Vaughn a fifth member of the wolf pack? I can see him fitting in absolutely perfectly. Or is it just me and my Vaughn based wishful thinking?
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004, Dir. Rawson Marshall Tucker)
 |
| Credit |
Originally titled simply Underdog, the 2004 film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story¸ written and directed by Rawson Marshall Tucker has become a pretty popular comedy in recent memory and has always been a firm favourite in the Carruthers household. Tucker has wrote a script that revels at every turn in subverting our expectations and parodying what we know about sports films and the typical underdog stories that fill that genre. Justin Long, Stephen Root, Joel David Moore, Chris Williams, Alan Tudyck are all wonderful and make for a great ensemble for the film. With Jason Bateman and Gary Cole offering two of the finest supporting performances in 00’s comedy. Ben Stiller is absolutely raucous and hilarious as White Goodman, an almost inconceivably funny, heightened to all hell fitness mad version of his Happy Gilmore character. Christine Taylor, Stiller's longtime partner, plays Kate Veatch, a character almost shockingly similar to her role as Matilda in the Stiller directed Zoolander. But stereotypical female lead characteristics aside, Taylor is sensational as a smart, funny and very lovable romantic interest for our Vaughn. The late Rip Torn plays the most outrageous version of the older hero we have ever seen, even taken the parody further with a hilarious black and white training video featuring Hank Azaria as a younger Patches O’Houlian. Torn may very well be the most hilarious character in the whole film. The entire cast practised the sport for around a month prior to filming. Then there is Vaughn, so wonderful and charming as Peter La Fleur that he really is the perfect underdog to lead us through the trials and tribulations of Average Joe’s gym. The film even takes a moment to parody the sort of sportsman cameo that these films sometimes feature. In the strangest part of the films legacy and in certainly it’s most unintentionally comedic is that by chance the celebrity they chose to spur on Vaughn and reinstate his faith in his team, is none other than Lance Armstrong, naturally some time before his drug scandal. If one ignores the timeline you could even comment on it now as another element to the films parody. There is actually a more subversive alternate ending where our team lose, a serious reversal of the traditional underdog prevailing over the big guys story. This ending as ultimately swapped for the almost ridiculously stereotypical happy ending we get now, something that I have always seen as a comment from the film to the effect of; “You want a happy ending? I’ll give you a happy ending”. The commentary even extends to the props, with the large treasure chest filled with cash bestowed upon the team, reading “Deus Ex Machina” on it. The new ending is of course far more enjoyable and as I say does still have some of the subversive commentary of the original ending. And above all that, according to Rotten Tomatoes, it’s one of Dame Helen Mirren’s favourite films, and whatever you choose to do with that information is up to you.
Wedding Crashers (2005, Dir. David Dobkin)
I love many things; Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Christopher Walken, Rachael Mcaddams, romance, comedy. But most importantly I love weddings. One film combines all of these loves, Wedding Crashers is that film. I guess in many ways I have an obsession with weddings in film and in real life, all leading to my theory that weddings are the most perfect way to introduce characters organically and enter us into a world of a film, The Godfather and The Deer Hunter, just to name a few, aswell as this film. Let me discuss the film by way of a wedding analogy. What makes weddings often so great is that you’re celebrating something wonderful with friends. In many ways Wilson and Vaughn are our friends here their incredible comedic chemistry throughout the film paired with a sometimes witty and sometimes outrageous script, leads to a general atmosphere of free-wheeling joy that can only be created at a wedding. You go to a wedding to celebrate true love, as Wilson’s characters informs us and as Wilson and Mcaddams with their similarly marvellous chemistry show us, as they share a burgeoning love together. Walken is absolutely insane in this film, I say this in full knowledge of far, far crazier Walken performances. But in this film there is just something about his random blurted comments such as “A sailor!” and many other comments to that fashion. Jane Seymour shows up and does a great Mrs Robinson. But this article is about Vaughn and here he may just be at his most effortlessly charismatic, for the first half of the film anyway. For the first half utilises the wit and dead pan scoundrel that Vaughn has played so many times before. But it is the second half where we get to see a new yet oddly familiar side to Vaughn; one filled with fury. After meeting his match with Isla Fisher’s wild and untameable bridesmaid, Vaughn’s character has a complete breakdown culminating in one of the best scenes in the film where he drunkenly monologues to Henry Gibson’s priest. All in all the film is eminently rewatchable and brings to you all the joy, humour and heart that any wedding should, with even more humour actually.
What makes Vaughn so watchable is a bizarre combination of arrogance, charm and likeability that really is far harder to create than it looks, as exemplified by the lack of other stars tapping in that very winning combination themselves. It can be harnessed and has been harnessed by some certain fleeting characters, but an entire persona the likes of Vaughn’s is unrivalled in recent years. Please give us another great comedy Vaughn, because this article was chiefly just an excuse to watch four of my favourite comedies. Come back to us Vince. We miss you buddy.
- - Thomas Carruthers
0 Comments