Sideways

[Really Nice!]

The book has mixed reviews, but the movie should be worth the price of admission to wine geeks.

SIDEWAYS tells the story of Miles (Paul Giamatti), a failed novelist, and his soon-to-be married friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church), a washed-up actor. To salute the remains of their youth, the two men take one last road trip in the week before Jack’s wedding. A serious wine enthusiast, Miles is determined to educate his friend on the region’s beloved Pinot Noir wines before the week is out. Jack indulges his best friend’s passion for the grape but is mainly interested in living his last week of bachelorhood to the hilt. Trouble ensues with wine and women (played by Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh) and the duo comes to some profound realizations as they come to terms with maturity.

Quick Time trailer.

[Coop]

A road trip movie/coming of age movie. Do they go to White Castle?

[tsquare]

Sandra Oh from Under the Tuscan Sun? Worth the price of admission.

[Really Nice!]

A road trip movie/coming of age movie. Do they go to White Castle?

Yes, and I believe Britney Spears is in the back seat.

[Coop]

I liked the first half of the trailer. Golf ,wine, good food...... then it all got messed up with relationship stuff.

Edited August 27, 2004 by Coop (log)

[Really Nice!]

‘Sideways’ is a knockout

Paul Giamatti stars in the best American film so far this year

"The middle-aged buddy movie truly comes of age with Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor’s “Sideways,” their fourth winner in a row.

...Payne and Taylor have now created a road movie of remarkable depth and penetrating humor.

Although we’ve still got a couple of months to go, “Sideways” may turn out to be the year’s best American film.

Who knows???

[phlawless]

I read the book a few months ago not knowing it was being made into a film, and I have to say, I was anything but impressed. Even with all the wine talk it was a let down...unless this is one of those rare occasions when a film outshines the book it was adapted from, I plan on skipping it.

[jgould]

for those who enjoy both movies & wine, i recommend "sideways", a newly released comedy drama that is both a good story & wine interesting

[KatieLoeb]

Attended the Philadelphia premier of this film on Tuesday. The quest for the perfect Pinot Noir. It's very amusing. The wine tasting scenes are priceless. For serious wine geeks, I'd say go see this in the theater. Others could probably wait for DVD.

The scenery is spectacular and some of the in depth conversations about wine between Paul Giamatti's character and Virginia Madsen's character are really beautiful prose about wine. Great stuff if you're really into the subject matter.

[Al_Dente]

I read the book a few months ago not knowing it was being made into a film, and I have to say, I was anything but impressed. Even with all the wine talk it was a let down...unless this is one of those rare occasions when a film outshines the book it was adapted from, I plan on skipping it.

←

I'm trudging my way through the hack writing in the book right now. I hope the movie is better. The story line is fine but the dialogue... ugh.

[vengroff]

Slate's wine columnist Mike Steinberger liked it. He expected the wine geekiness to be dumbed down for the screen, but found that it was not.

[chezcherie]

saw it this afternoon after a visit to our fav wine store.

snuck in a bottle of zin (grabbed from the trunk in a hurry--wish it had been a pinot, but hey---in the movies, ya take what you have, and enjoy it!) i recommend doing this, as it makes you feel like you are getting away with something.

i wanted to love the movie more, but it was certainly bearable, with some enjoyable wine scenes. i've seen much worse!

[bills]

Whenever I see a movie on a subject that is filled with obscure ‘in’ knowledge and terminology, I figure that some screenwriter talked to a hobbyist for about 15 minutes before proclaiming himself an expert in the field and plunging ahead to write the screenplay.

I worried about this with High Fidelity, but needlessly as that movie did a good job with the record hobby.

I was worried about it with the just released Sideways, but a review that was brought to my attention by a wine friend indicates that this too may be a fairly good portrayal of all we hold dear, though not without some of the anticipated clinkers.

The review is at http://slate.msn.com/id/2109290/

[KatieLoeb]

Whenever I see a movie on a subject that is filled with obscure ‘in’ knowledge and terminology, I figure that some screenwriter talked to a hobbyist for about 15 minutes before proclaiming himself an expert in the field and plunging ahead to write the screenplay.

I worried about this with High Fidelity, but needlessly as that movie did a good job with the record hobby.

I was worried about it with the just released Sideways, but a review that was brought to my attention by a wine friend indicates that this too may be a fairly good portrayal of all we hold dear, though not without some of the anticipated clinkers.

The review is at http://slate.msn.com/id/2109290/

←

bills:

Great review! I agree with everything said and the more time I've had to reflect on the film and the dialogue, the more I've decided I really enjoyed it. Aside from the spot on wine geek references, the wine becomes almost it's own character in the story. Certainly it's a major catalyst in the story. The moment where Miles is describing why he loves Pinot Noir so much, "because it's so fickle and frustrating and difficult to deal with" you realize that he's talking about himself and his own character flaws. And then Maya realizes that this dumpy neurotic flawed guy is self-reflective enough to really grasp that about himself and begins to fall in love with him at that very moment. It's all quite sweet.

I really enjoyed this film. Definitely an art house sleeper.

[montrachet]

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie which I saw with fellow oenophiles last night.

But at Stephanie's house, I definitely would have opened the DRC Richebourg...

[KatieLoeb]

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie which I saw with fellow oenophiles last night.

But at Stephanie's house, I definitely would have opened the DRC Richebourg...

←

It' so much easer to open the Richebourg (or whatever) out of someone else's wine rack than it is your own...

[bloviatrix]

We saw it last night and loved it. It's a movie for grown-ups -- not dumbed down at all. We all walked out determined to have an "Open that Bottle Night" and make the bottles we have aging a special occasion.

[Shannon_Elise]

I saw this on Saturday with my father (He's 52, I'm 22). We both really enjoyed it. He is not a wine guy by any means, and I am an up and coming Wine enthusiast, but we both laughed out loud many, many times. Particularly when they get the wallet....

Like bloviatrix said, an adult comedy, but one that not just wine and indie film fans can enjoy. Paul Giamatti was excellent.

Shannon

[DCatty]

I loved the movie also, but have a huge question. Without giving anything away:

The thing Miles does in the diner at the end of the movie -- shouldn't he have waited to do that when he got to where he was going??? I think bringing that -- thing -- to that -- person -- would have been really nice.

Also, my wife and I were killing ourselves until we realized that the ex-wife was the woman from Friends.

Edited November 18, 2004 by DCatty (log)

[john b]

I loved the movie also, but have a huge question.  Without giving anything away:

The thing Miles does in the diner at the end of the movie -- shouldn't he have waited to do that when he got to where he was going???  I think bringing that -- thing -- to that -- person -- would have been really nice.

Also, my wife and I were killing ourselves until we realized that the ex-wife was the woman from Friends.

←

Two thoughts come to mind as to why he did what he did and did it alone.

SPOILER ALERT

READ NO FURTHER IF YOU DON"T WANT TO SPOIL THE END

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!

First, it would have been too much of a movie cliche' if he drank it with Maya.

But here's what I really think. He probably thought that the special moment for which he was saving the Cheval would be a moment that he'd share with his wife. After seeing her at the wedding, he realized that it was over for good, forever. So he drank the wine. The realization that he would now move on with his life and pursue the woman he wanted to pursue became his special moment.

[KatieLoeb]

I loved the movie also, but have a huge question.  Without giving anything away:

The thing Miles does in the diner at the end of the movie -- shouldn't he have waited to do that when he got to where he was going???  I think bringing that -- thing -- to that -- person -- would have been really nice.

I'm not so sure about that. It certainly would have been nice, but it wouldn't have been as cathartic for him IMO. I agree with john b's theory. It was HIS special moment for himself, with himself to do the "selfish" thing he realized he'd never get around to if he kept waiting for some unattainable perfect nanosecond in the space-time continuum.

Also, my wife and I were killing ourselves until we realized that the ex-wife was the woman from Friends.

This was driving me nuts too! I could not place her until I went home and googled the actress' name. She played Ross' ex-wife's lesbian lover, yes?

[bvus]

I loved the movie also, but have a huge question.  Without giving anything away:

The thing Miles does in the diner at the end of the movie -- shouldn't he have waited to do that when he got to where he was going???  I think bringing that -- thing -- to that -- person -- would have been really nice.

Also, my wife and I were killing ourselves until we realized that the ex-wife was the woman from Friends.

←

Two thoughts come to mind as to why he did what he did and did it alone.

SPOILER ALERT

READ NO FURTHER IF YOU DON"T WANT TO SPOIL THE END

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!

First, it would have been too much of a movie cliche' if he drank it with Maya.

But here's what I really think. He probably thought that the special moment for which he was saving the Cheval would be a moment that he'd share with his wife. After seeing her at the wedding, he realized that it was over for good, forever. So he drank the wine. The realization that he would now move on with his life and pursue the woman he wanted to pursue became his special moment.

←

It seemed out of character to me for his character to drink that wine out of a paper cup with a burger at a fast food joint. This character would at least have gotten a steak at the Sizzler and he would not have drank that wine out of styrofoam cup. I would picture him more likely drinking it from some sort of glass stemware by himself at home or at a wine bar with a stranger, no? Maybe if he needed some more cash, he could even share it with his mother.

[David94928]

I loved the movie also, but have a huge question.  Without giving anything away:

The thing Miles does in the diner at the end of the movie -- shouldn't he have waited to do that when he got to where he was going???  I think bringing that -- thing -- to that -- person -- would have been really nice.

←

If I remember correctly Miles drank the wine before he heard from Maya by phone - that seemed to happen several months later. At the time he thought any chance of continuing his relationship with her was long gone.

A really nice movie, best I've seen if quite a while.

David

[=Mark]

One thing struck me when they were discussing suicide; After getting well into Jacks character in this film, do you really think he would have read or know anything about the circumstances of the publishing of "A Confederacy of Dunces?" It was a funny reference but it just seemed out of character.

Also I'm surprised they didn't work in the husband of the woman that Jack seduced. I noticed he had a tow truck in his driveway, and someone in that business would have been able to look up a licence number. Of course that would have gone in a totally different direction.

Oh another thing, they didn't seem to have any trouble getting Miles' car out of the ravine...

[docsconz]

Good movie. I liked it much more than my wife did. The characters were quite complex. Neither of the main characters were either totally likeable nor totally despicable. Both had their shining moments (although I can't really think of Jack's right now other than to try to get his friend out of his funk) and both had some really raw moments.

Miles is Pinot Noir and Jack is Cabernet Sauvignon.