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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: 20th Century Fox
Salesrank: 5714
Released: April 5, 2005 |
| Our Price: $3.94 |
| Used Price: $0.88 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
ACADEMY AWARD WINNER BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY WINNER OF 2 GOLDEN GLOBES, INCLUDING BEST PICTURE (COMEDY / MUSICAL)
In this intoxicating, intelligent comedy, director Alexander Payne (Election, About Schmidt) serves up "one of the best movies of the year" (Entertainment Weekly) about the ups, downs and sideways journeys of life. A wine-tasting road trip through California's famed Central Coast takes an unexpected detour as Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) hit the gas en route to their mid-life crisis. The comically mismatched pair soon find themselves drowning in wine, women... and laughter!
Description of Sideways (Widescreen Edition):
With Sideways, Paul Giamatti (American Splendor, Storytelling) has become an unlikely but engaging romantic lead. Struggling novelist and wine connoisseur Miles (Giamatti) takes his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church, Wings) on a wine-tasting tour of California vineyards for a kind of extended bachelor party. Almost immediately, Jack's insatiable need to sow some wild oats before his marriage leads them in into double-dates with a rambunctious wine pourer (Sandra Oh, Under the Tuscan Sun) and a recently divorce waitress (Virginia Madsen, The Hot Spot)--and Miles discovers a little hope that he hasn't let himself feel in a long time. Sideways is a modest but finely tuned film; with gentle compassion, it explores the failures, struggles, and lowered expectations of mid-life. Giamatti makes regret and self-loathing sympathetic, almost sweet. From the director of Election and About Schmidt. --Bret Fetzer
On the DVD
Stars Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church have an absolute blast on their commentary track, gleefully ripping themselves, fawning over "La Madsen," and recalling "that bad fake wine we had to drink a lot of." Director Alexander Payne dismisses the seven deleted scenes (about 17 minutes total) as "meager offerings," and it's true that there are no gems. But even better than the scenes themselves might be Payne's text introductions, which offer insight into his editing process. Each scene is surrounded by brief bits from the finished film to provide context, which should be done more often. The 6-minute making-of featurette is better than most because it spends less time on self-promotion and plot summary. --David Horiuchi
Stills from Sideways (Click for larger image)
Sideways (Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
Toture 
2009-11-01 - It takes about a whole hour for the movie to even begin. Very painful to watch with 1 dimensional characters.
sideways 
2009-10-28 - completely enjoyable as expected. DVD had a flaw part way through that detracted from the plot.
Not everyone's cup of tea (or glass of Pinot), I'll give you that... 
2009-10-12 - OK, first, you have an ensemble cast of four, with supporting characters. That means that if you have any issue with Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen or Sandra Oh...this is not the film for you.
I like all four of them...Giamatti from Duets (YES, I know, it was a really, really, really BAD movie, but I LIKE really, really, really BAD movies), Haden Church Tombstone - The Director's Cut (Vista Series) (Stephen Stinkin' Foster, anyone?), Madsen The Hot Spot ("I have a pair of shoes like that"), and Oh Double Happiness...what a HEARTBREAKING film)...
So you have a pairing of Giamatti & Haden Church as "road buddies," out for a final fling before T.H.C.'s wedding. Madsen's a waitress, Oh is a wine pourer in a winery, the four hook up, chaos ensues.
You have to have some interest in what Giamatti and Haden Church's characters have (or have not) "done with their lives." When it comes to Madsen and Oh, it's basically "smart women, foolish choices."
Mix in breathtaking scenery of the SoCal wine country and a lite-jazz soundtrack and you see that one person's five star film is another person's one star film.
For me, it's five.
Giamatti's "woulda, coulda, shoulda" personality won't make you want to rush up and give him a hug, but we've all either KNOWN that kind of person or have BEEN that kind of persom. Haden Church is a nice guy who is also a hedonistic pig. We've know THEM too.
ONE of the FIVE stars I'm giving the DVD is for the commentary by Giamatti and Haden Church. Unlike other "stars" who seem bored and / or annoyed with the DVD commentary process, they get INTO it, having fun, offering a multitude of inside tidbits, and making it a whole new experience after you've watched the fim. It's probably the most enjoyable DVD commentary I've listened to to date.
If you like the film, great. If you don't, that's OK too. Know what it is, and view accordingly.
Get Through the First Half
2009-09-23 - There's a temptation to say that I thought this movie was a little overrated.
The movie is either going to connect with you or it isn't. I was pleased that I finally saw it. A friend of mine is planning a wine-tasting trip to everywhere the movie went (which are all real places, I believe--even the Hitching Post).
The cast is outstanding. The production is top-notch. But it takes a while to get going. I don't know if it needed all that set-up to get the characters going but I stuck it out through a dry opening. Miles, the Paul Giammatti character, nearly loses me right off the bat. Okay, he's a frustrated writer who isn't going anywhere (I just watched WE DON'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE and that was about TWO frustrated writer/teachers who didn't go anywhere). Fine. But when he steals money from his mother...how do you get "lovable loser" back after that? Misstep or really revealing character flaw? That's up to each viewer.
His hopeless behavior with women and then adding alcohol to unleash darker rages didn't help either. He is such a loser by the midpoint that, instead of seeing him pull it together and win the girl or whatever happy ending you want to tag on this, I wanted to see him pay for his boorish behavior to everyone.
Thankfully, Thomas Haden Church is on hand to goose this movie to life. His wild, reckless needs give an unpredictable energy to everything. You don't care so much about what Miles will do next, you wonder what his buddy will get into next!
Some great, funny scenes in the second half. Really slow first half. If you can read fast, turn the subtitles on and hit x2 on your fast forward until you get halfway through.
Great movie
2009-09-22 - Love this movie. This one's a keeper! This is one for all the fans of Paul Giamatti.
