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Sideways - 10/22/04 (limited)- R - 123m
Paul Giamatti - Miles Raymond
Thomas Hayden Church - Jack
Virginia Madsen - Maya
Sandra Oh - Stephanie
Director: Alexander Payne
Screenplay by: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Official
Website
JEF
I had a difficult time giving this movie a rating. I’m in a generous mood so I’m going with a green light.
Storyline: Jack (Thomas Haden Church) is getting married in a week. Miles (Paul Giamatti) is his best friend and best man in the wedding. Jack and Miles decide to take off for a one week vacation as a sort of week long bachelor party. During this week many things happen that makes for a good movie.
First things first… I thought this movie was a comedy. I saw the trailer and laughed at several of the clips and thought, “this looks funny”. So upon entering the theatre I figured it was gonna be a light hearted fun film. I was wrong. Don’t get me wrong, there were several funny moments, but the movie was much more.
For the first quarter of the movie I really disliked it. I thought it was mushy, to intellectual, not very realistic, and not very funny. Then I realized… it’s NOT a comedy. And around half way through the movie I started to get back into the movie. By the end of the movie I was enjoying it over all.
It was a good pairing of Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church (remember the TV show Wings? Remember the guy who played “Loel”? that’s Thomas Hayden Church). The two personalities in the movie played well off of one another. At times they did seem a little two opposite, but that was part of what made it work. I really like both actors and thought they both did a good job.
Do you like wine? Do you know a lot about wine tasting? You will by the end of this movie. That might be one of the parts that I disliked about this movie. The character Miles, was a wine connoisseur and that was part of their week long vacation was touring California’s wine country. At times I was getting lost in all the talk about wine, (this was mainly in the beginning of the movie when I was still waiting for the jokes). But by the end of the movie I appreciated all the wine references. I may even go out this weekend and buy a bottle just for the heck of it. 
The movie did have an R rating, but some of the sexual stuff was pretty graphic, along with some of the language. I’m a little surprised they were able to keep it at an R rating. I think since this film falls in the “Artsy” category, that’s probably why they were able to “get away with it”.
I think if I had gone into the theatre knowing that it wasn’t a comedy per say, I would have enjoyed this movie much more. And perhaps had a glass or two of wine would have helped too.
I think if you switched the roles around and made the two lead characters women, this would be considered a “chick-flick” but because it was too guys, and had a crudeness factor, it felt like a chick-flick for guys.
If you like artsy movies with an edge, you might like this film.
Jef
