Review (sort of): Sideways

Sideways (2004):

Synopsis – Two men, who are probably not much older than me now but at the time I first saw it they seemed way too old to act the way they do, spend a bachelor weekend getting into trouble and drinking wine.

Starring - Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh, others including Marylouise Burke who is awesome.

I think I saw Sideways in the theater back in the day. Let’s see; I would have been 23, not really into movies yet. My top movie back then would have been Good Will Hunting or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This was probably the first “dark” comedy that I actually found funny. And Sideways holds up after 10 years. Something scary happened this time though. I found myself relating to Miles, Paul Giamatti’s character a lot. I’m not quite middle aged yet, and I haven’t been through a divorce, but when it comes to certain feelings, like not leaving any mark in the world or wanting to be an artist and being told that I might not be good enough, yeah. It’s pretty depressing, but in the long run I don’t expect to leave a huge hole in this world when I leave it. I just want the people I love to remember me as a good man who loved them. And art, well, art is bullshit anyway. This is my opinion of course.

What I Liked:

-The movie is somehow all about depressing and false subjects, yet is so much fun to watch playing out. Even after multiple viewing I eagerly await every twist and turn in Miles and Jack’s adventures in wine country. It’s a bad situation because those boys are all kinds of shades of gray, and they happen to meet a couple of women who don’t mind walking the line on the dark side. What these assholes do to those women is terrible, but I wouldn’t change this movie for the world. One can practically anticipate each action and consequence right from the beginning, even at a first viewing. You aren’t supposed to be able to judge a book by its cover right? Well, I think with these two dudes, an exception can be made. When it comes to the script, I don’t think it can be improved.

-I finally took notice of the scene that focuses on Virginia Madsen when she begins a monologue about why wine is special to her. That is some Hitchcock level worship there. The way everything goes dark to frame her face, all other noise is gone except maybe a little music, and here we are, gazing at a suddenly stunning Virginia Madsen. That scene is pretty good, but Giamatti’s reaction directly afterwards is what really give the moment its power.

-Sandra Oh is pretty great.

Verdict:

Whoa, wait a minute; aren’t we missing some categories in the breakdown? People, as far as I’m concerned Sideways is a perfect movie. I know it has some flaws and a better critic than I could point them out with ease, but I love this movie through and through. When it comes to comedies this is in my top 5 of all time. So if you haven’t watched it, you really should. And then you can tell me how wrong I am!