Review of Sideways (2009) by Manny C — 23 Mar 2011

What else can you say about a comedy that gets everything right except 'Raise your glass'. That's how fucking good Sideways is. Directed with inspired wit and emotional gravity by Alexander Payne (Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt), a touching and nuanced script from Payne and Jim Taylor, which expertly adapts Rex Pickett's novel, and a quartet of performances from four actors are go perfectly together.

So what is Sideways about? It's a buddy comedy, at first, but then transforms into something far more resonant. Miles (Paul Giamatti in his finest hour on screen), a failed novelist, takes his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church) a former soap opera star stuck doing commercials, on one last adventure before Jack's wedding, in which Miles is best man. They venture to California's Santa Ynez Valley, where Miles looks to drown his sorrows in vino and Jack looks to have his 'bone smooched' by hot waitresses. But there's more to it than that, and thankfully Payne is interested in exploring that.

Payne's film transcends drab formula, resulting in a remarkably human comedy. Sideways is also very drunk on wine, literally and figuratively. It appreciates everything about wine, its fragility, its history, its allure, color, texture, allure, everything. Miles has been suffering from depression for two years, two years after his wife left him. He remains stuck teaching English, contemplating whether his novel will ever be published and even more bitter to find that his wife has remarried and is happy. Understandably he wants to lose himself in his beloved vino.

Enter two women to really shake things up. First up is Maya, (bombshell beauty of eighties trash movies Virginia Madsen) a wine-loving waitress that Miles can't find the nerve to make a move on. Jack intervenes and sets up a date for the two by flirting with Maya's sexy, sassy friend Stephanie (the wonderful Sandra Oh), a single mother who pours wine for enthusiastic tourists. Stephanie equals Jack in terms of wild libidos, although Jack of course fails to mention his impending nuptials, a set-up for a killer funny scene of revenge that is over-shadowed only by a wonderfully funny and touching dinner scene that has the quartet beautifully united. Sideways leaves such a marvelous impact because its comedy is laced with genuine feeling and emotions that can knock you out.

All the actors are undoubtedly outstanding. Oh is a pure delight, all sass and deadpan wit. Church, at the time best known as dimwitted mechanic Lowell on tv's Wings, is just too good as charming rat-bastard Jack. It's a breakthrough role and Church digs into it, nailing every laugh and nuance. And Giamatti, possibly the best American actor working today (seriously, see American Splendor, Cold Souls, Barney's Version and Win Win) is a revelation as Miles, simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking. Finally, Madsen is a total stunner. Here she's marvelously subtle and tender, not to mention a striking beauty. Giamatti and Payne get the film's most emotionally striking moments, moments that didn't happen in the novel, such when Miles likens himself to a temperamental pinot noir, or when Maya lavishes praise on wine for how it evolves, attains rich complexity, peaks and 'tastes so fucking good'. Such words are apt for the film. It's wonderful to see Maya admonish Miles for hoarding a '61 Cheval Blanc. He claims its for a special occasion. 'I think the day you open a '61 Cheval Blanc, that's the special occasion.'.

Sideways is just such a special occasion. And it has aged remarkably.