Swingers

They may wear sharp suits and swear like longshoremen, but the male characters that populate "Swingers" are definitely not "Pulp Fiction" wannabes.

Instead, this group of aspiring, 20-something actors in Southern California is either more likely to whine about ex-girlfriends, crow about their success with the opposite sex or fight it out over a video game than "cap" (shoot) someone.

Consequently, not only are its characters more realistic and sympathetic than Quentin Tarantino's, but "Swingers" is much more good-natured and even likable than anything he has ever done.

Of course, with its sometimes overwhelmingly macho air, "Swingers" is still every bit as much an acquired taste as Tarantino's films are — especially in light of its nearly constant stream of profanities, which somewhat mutes its sweetness.

Jon Favreau (who played a football player in "Rudy") stars as Mike, a struggling comic who's also struggling with being single — since his girlfriend left him months ago for a carriage driver. Things are so bad that he spends nights alone waiting for a phone call from his ex or, even more neurotically, checks his answering machine.

However, his friends, especially the womanizing Trent (Vince Vaughn), have had enough of Mike's moping and are determined to to get him back in the dating game — first in a nearly disastrous trip to Las Vegas, where Mike and Trent hilariously pose as high-rollers, and then in a series of trendy nightspots, including the Derby and the Dresden Room.

Things don't look good for Mike, though, as he manages to sabotage one romantic interlude by talking about his ex and then, in the film's most comically painful moment, blows an opportunity with another promising prospect by calling her answering machine eight times within five minutes!

Favreau, who co-produced and wrote the screenplay, manages to touch on Tarantino, as well as Martin Scorsese's "GoodFellas" and Barry Levinson's "Diner," which this delightful, but ultra low-budget comedy (which was produced for much less than $1 million) is actually closest to in tone.

And director Doug Liman gives things a nice gloss (this is Hollywood, after all). The nightclubs look glamorous, especially in comparison to the decidedly unglamorous Vegas casino.

The performers are good as well, particularly Vaughn, whose manic energy won him a role in "The Lost World," the sequel to "Jurassic Park," and Favreau, who's nicely ironic as a comic without a sense of humor about his love life.

As mentioned, the language in "Swingers" is really rough in places, which may turn off some audiences. That's unfortunate, because the other dialogue and situations have a real ring of truth to them. The film is also rated R for a discreetly portrayed sexual encounter.