Sideways

Why did I feel so ambivalent about this movie? Everyone who's anyone seems to have loved it, and it isn't that I didn't recognize its craft, it's that there wasn't much for me to cling to. The story of a schlub who's lost his way in life, only to be badgered by an old school pal to get back in the game until he finally does. Plus there's wine snobbery in it and a really strange wallet-pinching scene that must be there only for laughs. I did very much like Paul Giamatti's acting, even if it started to grate on my nerves (why not lose the annoying quality once you start to put your life together?), and Virginia Madsen especially in the excellently scripted conversation on the porch. I was overly (meaning without rationale) pissed at the Thomas Haden Church character. I know I'm supposed to be, but he's just everything unlikable about guys wrapped up in one guy. A guy friend of mine says that this film is, at its roots, a guy film and the more I mull it over, the more he may be right. Most critics and most of the Academy are men so this might be why it landed a spot on the Best Picture nominees. Whatever. Let's just hope they give the award to something more deserving.

year: 2004
length: 123 min.
rating: 2.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375063/combined