Sideways (2004)

Director: Alexander Payne

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Samantha Oh

Two men reaching middle age with not much to show but disappointment embark on a week-long road trip through California’s wine country, just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle.

Paul Giamatti stars as Miles, a depressed unpublished writer who still hasn’t moved on since his divorce two years ago. His best friend, Jack (Thomas Haden Church) – a has-been actor – is about to get married, so to celebrate his ‘last week of freedom’, they go on a week-long road trip to wine farms.

From the beginning of their trip, it is clear they haven’t given the trip much thought, and often decide on the spur of the moment what they want to do. Jack wants to “get laid” before he settles down with his fiancée. He wants Miles to “get some action” too. However, Miles is not interested. He knows his wine, and prefers wine tasting – and good food – to anything else.

Jack is an irresponsible guy who puts his own desires first. He is a free spirit – perhaps too free for a guy getting married soon. This becomes evident when he meets wine pourer, Stephanie (Samantha Oh), and declares his love for her – and her young daughter.

The trip allows for fun, heartache, good wine and also a few shock reveals and twists. All the constant talk about wine might bore those ignorant to wines. Since I don’t have a sense of smell, I don’t have the connoisseur appreciation for wine, but I nevertheless found all the talk about wines rather interesting. I enjoyed the movie, as I would a glass of wine every now and then!

The characters felt relatable and natural. I related so much to Miles, and therefore rooted for and sympathized with him. I did find the film a bit too long, though. With a running time of 127 minutes it did feel a bit like deja vu around the third act. It would have been much faster paced had it been around 25 minutes shorter. Nevertheless, ‘Sideways’ is a fun movie and I certainly was entertained.

‘Sideways’ earned $109.7 million on a $16 million budget. It received 213 award nominations, winning 122 including the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Would I watch it again? Somehow I don’t think so.