SIDEWAYS

Miles and Jack are two old college roommates who decide to take a one -week trip through Central California wine country as a last fling before Jack gets married. It takes no time at all to realize these guys are definitely a case of “opposites attract” – Miles (Paul Giamatti) is divorced, depressed and walks around with that proverbial “cloud over his head”. Of course, it has a lot to do with his basic unhappiness with where he is in life -he’s a schoolteacher and would-be novelist, and his still hurting from the break-up of his marriage two years ago . Jack (Thomas Haden Church)is an actor on the down side of his “career”, but he’s full of fun and still considers himself to be a major playboy, despite the fact that he’s around forty years old and is to be married in seven days.
This movie starts off looking like any other teen “road trip” movie -that is, one of the guys is silly and horny, and the other one is introverted and appears to be a virgin. It doesn’t take long before they meet “the women” – Maya, a waitress and Stephanie, one of those people that fill the glasses at one of the winery. Miles, of course, wants no part of casual sex and is in no condition to begin a romance, and Jack, well, all he seems to want is a quickie, but with big doubts about his upcoming wedding, he gets in deeper than he can handle. One of the biggest surprises and most enjoyable things about this movie is finding out how much Miles and Jack know about each other, and how little they know about themselves. I typically resent mismatched “buddy” movies, but this one builds a wonderful story around the flaws of each of these guys, and then uses them to help each other get back on track. Jack pushes Miles towards Maya, and Miles keeps asking Jack, “what the hell are you doing?” as he keeps stringing Stephanie along. Of course, I wondered what an incredibly attractive Maya, played by Virginia Madsen, would see in the dark and scowling Miles, but she’s into the intellectual type, and Miles is sort of a slob version of “Frasier Crane”. And who knew Virginia Madsen could fill this role so perfectly? The last I saw of her, she was doing those “women in peril” movies on Lifetime TV. Sandra Oh plays Stephanie and is also remarkable as the single parent, still young enough to go to bed on the first date, but mature enough to be on the lookout for a new potential partner. This movie is directed by the guy who did the movies “About Schmidt” and “Election”, so no wonder I loved this one. The attention to detail is one again right on target – if you can, check out the clothing worn by all the characters. Nobody’s a sharp dresser, that’s for sure and their apartments are messy and have that worn-in look.That’s how America lives outside of the hip parts of the big cities. As a bonus, you might even learn a thing or two about wine as “Rainman” Miles takes us through a quick class. But if that’s not your thing, you can always enjoy Jack’s reaction, which is to fake it and play along. There is so much to like in this movie, even though you probably know where he’s headed. Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you get a bit sad as Miles finds more ways to make himself depressed and Jack avoids the inevitable, but you do root for these guys. And in a well made movie, all that matters is that you root for someone or against them. “Sideways” is for adults who understand you can be forty years old and not quite be where you want to be yet. And that’s “OK”. I give it a “9.0” on the scale