ACADEMY AWARD WINNER BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY WINNER OF 2 GOLDEN GLOBES, INCLUDING BEST PICTURE (COMEDY / MUSICAL)
In this intoxicating, intelligent comedy, director Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt) serves up "one of the best movies of the year" (Entertainment Weekly) about the ups, downs and sideways journeys of life. A wine-tasting road trip through California's famed Central Coast takes an unexpected detour as Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) hit the gas en route to their mid-life crisis. The comically mismatched pair soon find themselves drowning in wine, women... and laughter!
With Sideways, Paul Giamatti (American Splendor, Storytelling) has become an unlikely but engaging romantic lead. Struggling novelist and wine connoisseur Miles (Giamatti) takes his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church, Wings) on a wine-tasting tour of California vineyards for a kind of extended bachelor party. Almost immediately, Jack's insatiable need to sow some wild oats before his marriage leads them into double-dates with a rambunctious wine pourer (Sandra Oh, Under the Tuscan Sun) and a recently divorced waitress (Virginia Madsen, The Hot Spot)--and Miles discovers a little hope that he hasn't let himself feel in a long time. Sideways is a modest but finely tuned film; with gentle compassion, it explores the failures, struggles, and lowered expectations of mid-life. Giamatti makes regret and self-loathing sympathetic, almost sweet. From the director of Election and About Schmidt. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
Making fun of people who aren't funny::
The characters in this movie demonstrate drinking, smoking, taking drugs (prescription) and promiscuity. I do none of these things, and after watching this movie I would be in no hurry to start. I enjoyed the acting. I loved how the actors - all of them - portrayed their individual characters. I loved listening to the way they spoke their lines and timed their facial expressions: Outstanding talent. A similar movie could be made without the excessive drinking and without the other "bad habits" and... more info
Good film:
Sideways was a 2004 sleeper comedy hit by director Alexander Payne that really deserved its plaudits. He previously made the funny Reese Witherspoon comedy Election and the so-so Jack Nicholson film About Schmidt. The film's title comes from the proper way to store a bottle of wine, as well the angle a drunk sees the world from when he's recovering from passing out on the floor. While not a particularly deep film, and at two hours and four minutes in length it is about a half an hour too long, the film... more info
One Great Inside Joke:
Sideways is a buddy movie about two flawed buddies who go off on a wine-tasting adventure in lieu of a bachelor party. The story is more melancholic than comic as the buddies each bump up against their disappointments and failures.
There are lots of reasons to watch this film. The acting is masterful, Sandra Oh is delectable and the scenery is-for most of us-a delight.What sets this movie up for a special place in my heart is one great wine joke. There's a scene in the beginning where Miles... more info
Lost in American Suburbia. Brilliant work from director Alexander Payne...:
What a marvelous film. The latest, brilliant work from director Alexander Payne, who once again finds the empty, lonely heart at the center of so much American life. I have watched it many times, and still find wonderful things in the performances of Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh (Mrs Payne at the time the film was made). All the characters in Payne films share the prospect of being trapped in shallow roles and jobs they have accepted in suburban American life. They... more info
