Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn Reunite and Have It ‘Made’

Five years ago, “Swingers” teamed Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn in a wonderfully wry comedy as a couple of guys struggling to break into Hollywood while making the trendy lounge scene in their nonstop pursuit of women. Favreau, who wrote “Swingers,” has now directed and written the hilarious “Made,” which re-teams him with Vaughn. The two play off each other so well that they recall fond memories of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

Shrewdly, Favreau doesn’t repeat himself. This time he and Vaughn play construction workers and aspiring boxers. Favreau’s Bobby is the solid, steady type while Vaughn’s Ricky is a reckless, none-too-smart motor mouth. Both are employed by Max (Peter Falk), an amusingly ruthless mobster of the old school. Only Bobby’s rock-solid friendship keeps Ricky on Max’s payroll as a broom-pusher, for Ricky has apparently allowed one of Max’s carpet-cleaning vans to be stolen right out from under him.

Now Max has a proposition for Bobby: Fly to New York and perform a delivery, a simple task that promises big bucks in return. Normally, Bobby would back off from such a proposition, but he’s in hot water for having slugged a customer at Max’s private club, where Bobby’s girlfriend Jessica (Famke Janssen) works as a stripper. Bobby works nights as Jessica’s bodyguard, and the customer just wouldn’t stick to the rules and keep his hands off her. Loyalty has never been blinder than when Bobby agrees to do the job for Max only if Ricky can come along.

This setup of comic adventure is itself pretty funny, with Falk doing a delicious, fresh riff on the classic Jewish gangster, and it’s a promise of wilder things to come. The onslaught of first-class air travel, a luxury Manhattan hotel suite and a stretch limo turns Ricky into a wild man. He decides he’s got it “made.” Never mind that Max’s menacing instructions to the duo were to shut up, stay on their best behavior and listen carefully to instructions.

Needless to say, the ultra-cool Mr. Big of downtown Manhattan, Ruiz (Sean Combs, most effective), is scarcely impressed with Ricky’s antics. He easily could have lined up some of his own men to make the drop, but Max has insisted on using his own personnel.

Ricky is such a loud, incessant jerk it would be impossible to put up with him for more than a minute were not Favreau’s writing and Vaughn’s acting so inspired and funny. Both in front of and behind the camera, Favreau keeps Ricky’s shenanigans anchored by his sane, likable presence as Bobby. Favreau is too wise a writer not to slip in dimension and shading to both men, inviting us to wonder if perhaps Bobby is a tad too cautious--and just maybe Ricky is not always as dumb as he seems.

“Made” is a consistent pleasure, a delightful blend of farce and sentiment, its flights of fancy well-grounded in the foibles of human nature. Contributing to the fun are Faizon Love’s Horace and Vincent Pastore’s Jimmy, a pair of levelheaded underworld soldiers. David Patrick O’Hara is amusing as Max and Ruiz’s genial customer, and little Makenzie Vega is Jessica’s adorable daughter.

“Made” also looks great, with a terrific mood-setting play of light and shadow, but that’s not surprising: It was shot by one of the best, Christopher Doyle, the virtuoso cameraman for many of Hong Kong’s bravura directors.

*

* MPAA rating: R, for pervasive language, some drug use and sexuality. Times guidelines: Strong language, adult situations.

‘Made’

Jon Favreau: Bobby

Vince Vaughn: Ricky

Peter Falk: Max

Sean Combs: Ruiz

Famke Janssen: Jessica

An Artisan Entertainment release. Writer-director Jon Favreau. Producers Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau. Executive producer John Starke. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle. Editor Curtiss Clayton. Music John O’Brien, Lyle Workman. Costumes Laura Jean Shannon. Production designer Anne Stuhler. Art director Roswell Hamrick. Set decorator Lisa Kent. Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.

At selected theaters.