Many of you were kind enough to share your favorite stories set in Las Vegas. Thank you! Your comments put me in the mood to watch Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. But Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Hunter S. Thompson wasn’t available on any of the streaming services we subscribe to, and I wasn’t sure about pairing psychedelics with my tofu & broccoli rice bowl (I’ve heard broccoli cry, and it’s no picnic, let me tell you).
Instead, I watched Swingers, a movie I haven’t seen in a decade. One thing I couldn’t get over was how young Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, and Ron Livingston were. When I first saw Swingers in the ‘90s I was a teenager, and all those guys, who were in their twenties, looked so grown up to me. Now, that I’m oldish, they look like babies. I guess Benjamin Button vibes are a side effect of revisiting the films of your youth.
Another side effect is perspective. I remembered that Swingers has some really crass moments of toxic masculinity, and assumed the film wouldn’t hold up for that reason. But watching it again, it occurred to me that most of the problematic behavior centers around the Vince Vaughn character. As a teen, I gravitated to the Vince Vaughn character because he was so damn quotable, and confident! But this time, I realized that 99% of what Vince Vaughn says is wrong, not just objectively wrong, but wrong within the context of the film. In the end, the Ron Livingston character has the better argument, and really, if you think about it, the heart of Swingers is Ron Livingston and Jon Favreau doing something we rarely see men do on screen: talking about their feelings.
As for the tofu & broccoli rice bowl, it was fan-fucking-tastic! Aroma in Studio City always crushes it. If you know, you know 🥦🍚
Bonus question: What film from your youth are you itching to revisit?
I was was half watching the first Bourne movie last night and Matt Damon looks like a baby compared to now!