Sideways

Back in 2004, I used to write movie reviews for the USM student newspaper, the "Student Printz". Because I occasionally feel lazy, and it seems a shame that all of five people ever read these, I've decided to repost them here, in the original versions that I emailed to my editor, Noel, all those years ago.

Finally, we have an achievement of the year for filmmaking – a clever turn on the familiar buddy road film. But this general plot line is where “Sideways” pulls away from its more popular cousins, like “Taxi” or “Tommy Boy” and sides more with “Lost in Translation”. “Sideways” is warm and fuzzy one minute, then depressing and provocative the next. Of course, a movie this good isn’t playing in Hattiesburg, but should you go home for the holidays and find it playing nearby – definitely check it out.

“Sideways” is a about Miles (Paul Giamatti), a very depressed author and wine connoisseur. Miles used to be happy of course, but his earlier divorce destroyed him realizing that he has long past his peak and is gradually sliding towards death. At the complete other end of the spectrum, is Miles’ old college friend, Jack (Thomas Haden Church) a washed-up actor and womanizer, just a week away from his marriage. For his last week of bachelordom, Miles is taking his friend Jack on a trip through California wine country. Miles wants a good glass of wine and golf, and Jack wants a lot of wine and a couple of flings before he’s tied down. Their travels bring them across Stephanie (Sandra Oh) and Maya (Virginia Madsen), a wine-pourer and waitress, respectively. While Jack and Stephanie become sexually entangled, Miles attempts to woo Maya. Of course, Stephanie and Maya eventually find out about Jack’s wedding, and Jack and Miles have to return home to their lives.

“Sideways” is in a lot of ways similar to director Alexander Payne’s other work like “Election”: the plot may not be breakneck, but its obvious that there’s a whole lot going on, and by the time the movie is over, you can’t help but being entertained. Miles is very similar to Mathew Broderick’s character in “Election”, a teacher, yearning for something much more but only being shadowed by other people’s success. But don’t think that the movie is only wilted flowers; in fact it is very humorous which only helps to make the film feel more real. Giamatti and Church’s acting is spectacular, and the dialogue and secondary characters only add to the body of the film. And to top it off, the cinematography is fantastic, as it appears that the color scheme was taken from a random pick box of wines: lots of warm and friendly hues, which combined with the Jack character, only makes you pity Miles just that much more.

I would like to say that’s there is nobody out there who wouldn’t like this movie, but then I think about those poor fools locked in that “unfeasible fortress of unknown disability” and I realize that there is more than a few people who wouldn’t like this movie; probably not enough explosions and gunfights to keep you preoccupied. But this movie really is fantastic, and the disillusioned philosophy majors out there would probably really enjoy it. I think the greatest strength of the movie though, is the ending: instead of spending ten minutes wrapping it up, the credits roll pre-denouement, leaving you thirsty for more.