Your feet have had it. You’re humming “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and you have no idea what to do with the post-shopping ennui. Order a pizza and pick up a movie on the way home. If you didn’t catch it the first time around (2004) when it was in theaters, check out “Sideways” – a little thought-provoking (admit it, you need it, after playing with plastic and cash all day) and moving, funny and unexpected film.
Paul Giamatti, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh and Thomas Haden Guest are the four characters who spend the last week before Haden Guest’s character is to be married. Seeking a last week of freedom, Haden Guest and Paul Giamatti drive to California’s wine country where they find Oh and Madsen, introduce us to the complexities of wine and its implicit metaphors for life and spend a complex, rowdy, raunchy, soulful, deceitful, honest and last hurrah before Guest’s weekend wedding.
In case you do rent it, I won’t give all the plot points away – if you like wine at all, the arcane of this film is WINE and you’ll love learning more about it. Like any passion people share, the mutual discovery of the pleasures of the collective lust for the subject – wine, movies, books, carrot cake, The Yankees or Patrick Dempsey, is one of the most joyful revelations of new friendships. Throw in some sex and you hit the jackpot…In this case, that jackpot must be short-lived due to the upcoming nuptials. But there is great honesty in Guest’s character’s portrayal of an actor whose emotions make you wonder, “Do actors lie?” and Giamatti’s depression over his divorce, two years old, is so palpable (in addition to a novel he’s working on selling) that it may resonate in any lack you may feel in yourself.
The performances are beautifully subtle and the writing is especially offbeat, quirky, provocative, unpredictable and move the plot at a relaxed yet brisk pace.
Rent it and drink some Pinot Noir; you won’t regret it.
