November 19, 2004
Sideways
Last night I went to see the new Alexander Payne film Sideways. Wow. This is a seriously fantastic movie. This one is up there with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and for me, that's saying a huge amount.
The premise is that Miles (Paul Giamatti of American Splendor fame) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church of, well, not much) are two friends who set out on one last road trip through California wine country before Jack gets married in a week. This is one of the best premises for a movie that I've come across in a long time, by the way. Miles is a neurotic middle-school English teacher and aspiring novelist who is more knowledgable about wine than is probably good for him, while Jack is a low-brow TV actor just past his prime with a voracious taste for women.
Their personalities immediately dictate that they're going to have pretty different ideas of what constitutes a good time. Most of the initial tension arises from these differing perspectives. Miles had gotten divorced about two years prior to the trip. Jack, a serially promiscuous and almost stereotypical LA flesh-bot, is getting married. Miles wants to have a nice, relaxing week with good wine, good food, and a few rounds of golf. Jack wants to get laid one last time, and declares that he's going to get Miles laid too. Tensions mount.
In the course of their wine-tastings, Miles and Jack meet Maya and Stephanie, both of whom are serious about wine. Jack sees this as a perfect opportunity to get both of them hooked up, and things progress from there.
The film is blatant about promiscuity (though it's pretty tasteful with two notable exceptions) and assumes that it's both natural and normal. The thing is, Payne is probably right here. This is how people live. But Payne is crushingly and beautifully honest about the awkwardness, pain, and heartbreak involved in such a lifestyle. That's where the movie really shines. Giamatti, who played a brillaint Harvey Pekar, takes that amazing performance up to a whole new level of excellence. There are also a couple instances of cinematography that exactly capture the emotional tone of the scene.
Sideways isn't playing much of anywhere, but if you get the chance, it's worth driving a ways to see it. For those of you still in Chattanooga, it's playing in Atlanta and Knoxville as of the time of this post.
