# Made (2001 film)
*Made* is a 2001 American crime comedy-drama written, directed, produced by, and co-starring [Jon Favreau](https://www.edgepedia.org/jon-favreau), who re-teamed with [Vince Vaughn](https://www.edgepedia.org/vince-vaughn) for the first time since their 1996 film *Swingers*. The story follows Bobby (Favreau) and Ricky (Vaughn), lifelong friends and aspiring boxers in Los Angeles who are sent by a low-level mob boss to New York on a money-laundering assignment that Ricky's grandiose gangster pretensions quickly unravel.[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/made-2001) • [2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0227005/credits/) • [3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/07/20/made-a-personality-that-just-wont-quit/ac4d1d54-4692-4854-8d05-d425e01ded9b/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | US theatrical release July 13, 2001; distributed by Artisan Entertainment[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0227005/credits/) |
| Running time | 95 minutes, rated R[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62106-MADE) |
| Box office | $5,480,653 worldwide, of which $5,313,300 (96.9%) came from the domestic market; domestic opening $118,003[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0227005/credits/) |
| Critical scores | 70% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (103 reviews) and 66% on the audience Popcornmeter; a Metascore of 62 on Metacritic[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/made) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/made/critic-reviews/) |
| Key cast | Jon Favreau (Bobby), Vince Vaughn (Ricky), Famke Janssen (Jessica), Peter Falk (Max), Sean Combs (Ruiz)[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62106-MADE) |
| Crew | Cinematographer Christopher Doyle; editor Curtiss Clayton; music by John O'Brien and Lyle Workman[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62106-MADE) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and premise
Bobby is an earnest, plodding aspiring boxer who works as driver and bodyguard for his girlfriend Jessica ([Famke Janssen](https://www.edgepedia.org/famke-janssen)), a stripper, while caring for her young daughter. His best friend since their days at Hollywood High is Ricky (Vaughn), a small-time hustler who dreams of being a mafia hotshot and has a gift for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Both men do jobs for Max ([Peter Falk](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-falk)), a crafty old-world mob boss who books the strippers.[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/made-2001) • [3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/07/20/made-a-personality-that-just-wont-quit/ac4d1d54-4692-4854-8d05-d425e01ded9b/)
When a fight with one of Jessica's clients costs Max eight thousand dollars in damages, Max offers the pair a way to pay it back: fly first-class to New York and carry out a money-laundering delivery for his East Coast connection, the smooth downtown gangster Ruiz ([Sean Combs](https://www.edgepedia.org/sean-combs)). Within hours, Ricky's delusions of grandeur alienate Ruiz, unravel the operation, and put both men's lives in jeopardy.[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/made-2001) • [3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/07/20/made-a-personality-that-just-wont-quit/ac4d1d54-4692-4854-8d05-d425e01ded9b/) • [7](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/made/umc.cmc.4sldv4iwnu8lk4nnnqpz58jfq)
## Production
Favreau wrote the screenplay, made his directing debut on the film, and produced it with Vaughn; production was through Cardiff Giant Productions with distribution by [Artisan Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/artisan-entertainment).[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/07/20/made-a-personality-that-just-wont-quit/ac4d1d54-4692-4854-8d05-d425e01ded9b/) • [4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62106-MADE) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/made) The film was shot by cinematographer [Christopher Doyle](https://www.edgepedia.org/christopher-doyle), a frequent collaborator of the Hong Kong director [Wong Kar-wai](https://www.edgepedia.org/wong-kar-wai), and critics noted the contrast between the film's rich, romantic visual style and its scrappy comic sensibility.[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62106-MADE) • [6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/made/critic-reviews/) The San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle reported that some of the dialogue was improvised.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/made/critic-reviews/)
The film marked the screen acting debut of Sean Combs, who plays Ruiz in a small role; the Washington Post's Rita Kempley called him a believable, no-nonsense gangster.[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/07/20/made-a-personality-that-just-wont-quit/ac4d1d54-4692-4854-8d05-d425e01ded9b/) The supporting cast also includes [Faizon Love](https://www.edgepedia.org/faizon-love) as Horrace and, per the IMDb credits, [Vincent Pastore](https://www.edgepedia.org/vincent-pastore) of *The Sopranos* as the duo's New York chauffeur.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/made) • [8](https://www.deseret.com/2001/8/24/20089726/film-review-made/)
## Reception
*Made* opened to generally favorable reviews. Its Metacritic tally of 62 reflects 18 positive, 4 mixed, and 2 negative reviews among 24 counted.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/made/critic-reviews/) Critics Consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: "Not as good as Swingers, but it's still witty and goofy enough for some laughs."[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/made)
**Critical views.** Roger Ebert, the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) critic who won the [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) for criticism in 1975, gave the film three stars and called it "a peculiarly entertaining comedy" that rotates the Favreau-Vaughn rapport into a deadpan crime comedy. He argued that Vaughn's performance, a comedy of tone in which Ricky is always slightly off-key, is as hard as an acting assignment can be precisely because it must seem almost accidental.[1](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/made-2001) The Los Angeles Times praised the chemistry between the leads, while Variety's Joe Leydon found the film fitfully amusing but judged that Vaughn repeatedly crossed the line into self-indulgence, and that the movie seemed to be a series of loosely tied scenes forming a weak story.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/made/critic-reviews/) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/made) Jeff Vice of the Deseret News was the most negative of the major-paper reviewers, calling the film an extremely disappointing dark comedy whose director had trouble maintaining a consistent tone.[8](https://www.deseret.com/2001/8/24/20089726/film-review-made/)
**Box office.** The film grossed $5,480,653 worldwide against a mid-summer indie release; the Screen Daily reviewer Emanuel Levy expected it to do decent business on the domestic indie and art-house circuit but predicted it would not travel well to mainstream locations, a prediction consistent with its small international share of 3.1 percent of grosses.[2](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0227005/credits/) • [9](https://www.screendaily.com/made/406295.article)
## Relation to Swingers
Reviewers consistently read *Made* against *Swingers*, the 1996 Miramax hit that established Favreau and Vaughn. Both critics and the film's own marketing framed it as a change of register: where *Swingers* was, in Levy's phrase, a film that dealt with real issues, *Made* is a basically plotless, character-driven film, a spoof of Martin Scorsese's crime pictures such as *Mean Streets* and *GoodFellas* with a touch of HBO's *The Sopranos* thrown in.[9](https://www.screendaily.com/made/406295.article) • [1](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/made-2001) Ebert noted that the two leads play low-level gangsters who may have learned most of what they know about the life from watching *The Sopranos*. Salon's Stephanie Zacharek went further, arguing that the film's lack of jazzy catchphrases, compared with *Swingers*, was precisely what made it the better movie.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/made/critic-reviews/)
## References
1. [Made movie review & film summary, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, July 20, 2001](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/made-2001)
2. [Made (2001), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0227005/credits/)
3. [Rita Kempley, 'Made': A Personality That Just Won't Quit, The Washington Post, July 20, 2001](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2001/07/20/made-a-personality-that-just-wont-quit/ac4d1d54-4692-4854-8d05-d425e01ded9b/)
4. [Made (2001), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/62106-MADE)
5. [Made, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/made)
6. [Made critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/made/critic-reviews/)
7. [Made, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/made/umc.cmc.4sldv4iwnu8lk4nnnqpz58jfq)
8. [Jeff Vice, Film review: Made, Deseret News, August 24, 2001](https://www.deseret.com/2001/8/24/20089726/film-review-made/)
9. [Emanuel Levy, Made, Screen Daily, July 16, 2001](https://www.screendaily.com/made/406295.article)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2000–2004 films › Released 2000 to 2002*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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