Right backkkkkk to the movies, and this time its not a heavy duty drama, this time I've went for a lighter toned comedy film, one of my favourites in recent years, Sideways, about two old college buddies going on a week's excursion into the wine country in California. So so so let's have a look at it...
The flick starts with Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti) who is a middle school English teacher, who goes to pick up his former college room mate, Jack Cole (Thomas Haden Church), who is an actor, who is to be married, and the two of them go on a road trip through the wine country in Carlifornia. And while Miles just wants to chill out, taste wine (as he is a wine lover) and play a bit of golf, Jack wants to get laid one last time before he get's married. They soon encounter Maya (Virginia Madsen) who works as a waitress up at Mile's favourite restaurant, the Hitching Post, and also meet up with Stephanie (Sandra Oh) who works at a local winery. Jack sets up a double date between them, however prior to the date, Jack tells Miles that his ex-wife is coming to the wedding, who remarried, which devastates Miles, who wasn't aware of this, but despite that they carry on with the dinner date. After dinner all four of them go back to Stephanie's place, where Jack and Stephanie get it on, while Miles and Maya click with one another, Miles misses his window by not reacting to Maya's advances. However Jack continues his affair with Stephanie, where he admits he is crazy about her and that he might even consider calling off his wedding, which Miles can hardly believe.
Later on, Miles meets up again with Maya, as do Jack and Stephanie for another date, and this time Miles and Maya consumate their fledgling relationship. However the next day, Miles unwittingly reveals that Jack is getting married, which infuriates Maya, who suddenly breaks it off with Miles, and tells Stephanie who attacks Jack in public, with her motorcycle helmet, leaving him with a broken nose. Also at this time Miles enquires about his book, which he has been putting around publishers, and he hears that another publisher has turned it down, which causes him to make a scene in a winery, when he grabs the wine dregs bowl and pours it over himself. After Jack get's out of hospital (now wearing a big bandage over his nose!) he and Miles go to a local steak house, where Jack chats up a woman who works there and he heads back to hers. Later that night at the motel where the two men are staying, Miles is woken up by Jack who is at the door, naked, having revealed that the woman he hooked up with, has a husband, who burst in on him while he was having sex with her. Jack however also reveals that he has left his wallet with his wedding rings inside them at the woman's house and he tearfully begs Miles to help him get it back, to which Miles eventually agrees, who sneaks into the woman's house and grabs the wallet, while the woman and her husband are having sex, he bolts it out the door, followed by the big naked guy, he get's away in the car just in time!
Before Miles and Jack go back home, Jack suggests they make his nose look like it was the result of a car crash, so they crash the car into a tree. Miles then drops Jack back home, and they soon meet up for the wedding, where Miles is the best man, but afterwards, Miles meets up with his ex-wife again, who has remarried and is also pregnant, which leaves Miles even more depressed. This results in Miles going back to his apartment to grab his prized bottle, a 1961 Chateau Cheval Blanc, which he drinks from inside a coffee cup in a fast food restaurant. On going back to the normal routine of his life, one day he receives a message on his answering phone from Maya, who says she read his book (which he gave her his manuscript of to read) which she loved, and she would like him to visit sometime. This pre-empts the end of the film where Miles travels to Maya's apartment and knocks on her door in the final scene.
As a comedy, Sideways is something of a breath of fresh air, as it takes the idea of wine tasting and using it as a theme for comedy, and in the past I'm always reminded of some of these cheesy wine programs such as the ones on the BBC which the over enthusiastic Jilly Goolden always did! But here the characters are really nicely drawn out, as the director/writer, Alexander Payne, seems to delight in writing rich dialogue and combining it with characters who are in love with wine. The exception to this of course is Jack, who basically wants to get his end away before he get's married and its quite funny how every winery he goes to and every wine he samples he says "I like it!" or "it seems pretty good to me!". Personally I wouldn't have much of an idea about wine myself or differentiating the various types you can get, although I do like a fine red wine myself, whether it be a Shiraz, Cabarnet, Sauvingon Blanc, or even yes a Merlot!
Cast wise, the performances are pretty much top drawer here, especially from the two leads, Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church. Giamatti's Miles comes across as being a slightly snobby, yet at the same time likeable and sympathetic, as he really does appear as a downtrodden figure, especially as he is depressed since his marriage fell apart, and his ex-wife was also a wine afficiando. Giamatti of course get's some great lines in the film and the best and most memorable is of course where he is on the double date, and Jack says "you are going to go in there, and if we are going to order Merlot, we will drink Merlot!", to which Miles replies "that's it! If they order Merlot, I'm leaving, I am NOT drinking any fuckin Merlot!". And strangely enough the impact of that line had a negative one on the sales of Merlot wines in British wine stores after it was released! Personally I think Merlot is a perfectly nice wine, but I guess Miles's taste buds must be finer tuned than all ours put together! That and the scene where he's at a lesser winery and samples a wine which he has no like for, and says "it tastes like the back end of a high school bus, they also probably didn't destem, and they probably mixed up with leaves and ashes, to turn it into this shit!". I also like the scene where he gives Jack a lesson in how to taste wine, and at the end he looks at Jack warily and says "are you chewing gum??!".
Thomas Haden Church is also great as Jack, the horny actor, who wants to get laid before he ties the knot, even though his character is basically a dick, and he is doing the dirty on his fiance, and mucking poor Sandra Oh about. But in the end he get's what he deserves when Stephanie beats the crap out of him with her motorcycle helmet, and then some when he mistakenly has sex with the female steak house employee, and he runs out the house just as her husband comes home! This pre-empts one of Haden Church's best lines when he makes it back to the motel and he says "I had to run through an ostrich farm, those fuckers are mean!". And there is no doubt that Jack's behaviour is pretty disgraceful, especially as he is due to get married, yet he foolishly at one point is even thinking of calling it off when things start going so well with Stephanie. But on the other hand he is also looking out for Miles too, as he clearly wants him to get over the grief of his ended marriage, and get back on the horse, by setting up the double date with Maya, he is trying to kick start him into a relationship again, which is something. I also like the scene where Miles refers to Maya as being married, when they are at the restaurant and he says she has a rock, but later Jack says "oh by the way, she's not married. I saw her hand earlier, it was a sans rock!". Then there is the moment at the double date, where Miles gets drunk and goes off to call his ex-wife, after he's spoken to her, he comes back looking very unhappy, and Jack says "did you drink a dial????".
The two ladies in the film are also really good, Virginia Madsen is very much appealing (and very nice!) as Maya, who comes across as being sweet and easy going, with no ideas of snobbery, and she has a great love for wine as well. And she and Giamatti have a nice pleasant chemistry on screen together, although you have to say that she is punching way below her weight with a guy like Miles! (no offence Paul or Miles!). Sandra Oh is also really good in the film and I particularly like the scene where she attacks Jack and then get's on her bike and screams at Jack "fuckface!", and then to Miles "You too!", and Miles replies "Me????!". Another moment I liked is the scene where she pours some sample wines for Miles and Jack, and Jack eyes her up saying "you are a bad girl, Stephanie", and she replies "yeah I know, I should be spanked!".
Direction wise, Alexander Payne also does a terrific job, as he keeps the film moving along at a nice leisurely pace, and he also adapted the screenplay from the novel, Rex Pickett, and throughout he keeps just the right amount of humour and drama going. And unlike his previous and utterly depressing film, About Schmidt (starring Jack Nicholson) Payne makes Sideways a pleasure to watch, and the drama in it is very low key. Not to mention the film itself is beautifully shot out in the Santa Barbara County Wine Country, and all those scenes of wine vineyard tends to get me into the mood for a wee glass or two! (alkie!).
So that's it for Sideways, its one of my favourite comedies in recent years and if you haven't seen it, then well DON'T read this post, because its just ruined it, and give it a go instead.
And that is it!
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