Sideways was released on October 22, 2004. It won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was written by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, directed by Alexander Payne, and stars Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, and Sandra Oh.
I'd never seen this film, but I always wanted to. I've always heard tremendously positive things about the film, and that is was also tremendously funny. While watching it, I got that feeling only for a few scenes. I overall found the film not to be tremendously funny, but when it is funny, it's damn funny. However, that was few and far between.
We meet Miles (Paul Giamatti), a failed author and wine connoisseur, and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), a failed actor, college roommates and best friends. Jack's about to get married, and Miles is the best man, a single divorce himself. Miles takes Jack on a trip through the Santa Barbara County Wine Country, where Miles plans for them to drink wine, play golf, and enjoy the scenery. Jack's plan are different. He wants one last fling before marriage, and finds this with Stephanie (Sandra Oh), a single mother who works at a local winery. At the same time, Miles enjoys a budding relationship with Maya (Virginia Madsen), a local waitress and fellow wine connoisseur.
As I already mentioned, I didn't think the comedy in this film was great. I found it to be rather circumstantial, it just happened to be there. This proved to be a major disappointment for me, as I kept hearing just how tremendously funny this film was. However, what this film lacked in comedy, I found it had in almost every other department.
The acting was spectacular, from the entire main cast. Paul Giamatti is brilliant at playing a pathetic, depressing person, who's had enough, but is too pathetic to do anything about it. Thomas Haden Church was probably the best actor in the whole group, playing a despicable, and yet loveable character who just wanted sex, sex, sex, and didn't quite care where he got it from. As Jack describes himself, "I'm an actor. All I have is instinct." Without spoiling anything, something bad happens to Jack. Due to what he's said earlier in the film, you think he would be depressed over this, but instead isn't, jumping right back onto the figurative horse.
The writing is rather spectacular in parts. It creates a truly depressing situation for Miles, and makes him seem so pathetic, and we take pity on him for it. I'd say out of all the films I've seen on this list, this one has the best writing. The directing is also good, with the cinematography being very good in some parts. I like how whenever Miles is drunk, the camera shakes a bit.
Quite frankly, I didn't enjoy the film, because of it's apparent lack of comedy, or at least, my lack of enjoyability for it. And that was sore. However, the film gets everything else right, creating a very enjoyable film, as long as you go into it with the right mind. Overall, I give the film a 7.5/10 for enjoyment, but I do expect this number to increase in the next few years.
Next time, I'm watching In The Company of Men, Aaron Eckhart's acting debut, and Neil LaBute's directing debut.
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