A story that may have only happened in 1970s New York City, the tale of Larry Levenson and the rise and fall of his infamous swingers’ nightclub Plato's Retreat. In 1977, New York City was scorched by stifling heat waves, enervated by energy crunches and inflation and hurtling toward social unrest. Meanwhile, swinging couples were doing their thing at Plato's Retreat. American Swing captures the glorious last gasp of the (mostly hetero) sexual revolution that had been birthed in the sixties and may have died on the dance floor at Plato’s.

Law-school dropout Troy Gable answers an ad for a “personal assistant to a celebrity performer,” hoping it will catapult him to a glamorous career in the entertainment industry. Little does he know that performer is Buck Howard, a "mentalist" infamous for his 61 appearances on The Tonight Show, who has been reduced to a has-been magician in need of a pretty big trick to get him out of this slump. Malkovich turns in a comic performance not to be missed.