Sideways

I watched the movie Sideways this afternoon. Sideways, for anyone who may have missed it in the theaters or last year's Oscar buzz, is the story of "two men reaching middle age with not much to show but disappointment, who embark on a week long road trip through California's wine country, just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle." (IMDB)

The single guy is depressed. He's a school teacher and wannabe novelist with a divorce shadowing his recent past. And he's a wine snob. With a drinking problem. The engaged guy (Thomas Hayden Church, who should've stopped acting after Wings went off the air) is a hornball who isn't sure he should be getting married, and wants to have lots of sex during their guys' weekend. And lots of sex he has.

One guy has lots of sex. One guy has lots of wine. That's about it.

The movie didn't make me laugh. And it didn't touch my heart. Come to think about it, it didn't really make me feel anything at all. It just made me want to punch both men.

Wine -- wine tasting, wine pairing, wine making -- doesn't have to be an overbearing subject. It doesn't have to be pretentious. It can just be an enjoyable beverage. This movie, I think, could have been like a fine wine. Instead it became a fine wine shared with a wine snob - pretentious and condescending, and leaving me wondering why *I* couldn't smell the oak and asparagus in the glass.

I give it JJj out of JJJJJ.