Sideways (DVD)

Jack is about to get married and goes on a week long bachelor party to California's wine country with his best friend Miles. Jack is a womaniser, despite his imminent marriage, and has every intention of getting laid at every available opportunity. Miles is a failed author with a failed marriage behind him to book, and just wants to play golf and get drunk on good wine. Soon they meet two women, Stephanie, who falls for Jack, and Maya, who is obviously ...
...frantic carnal relationship, but Miles and Maya have a much more cerebral relationship which looks as though it is going to end in love. Will Stephanie find out about Jack's marriage? Will Miles and Maya end up together?

Paul Giamatti plays Miles and is absolutely perfect for the role. Giamatti is not the standard good-looking Hollywood actor - he looks more like he belongs in a Woody Allen movie - but when playing an awkward, slightly ... more

Jack is about to get married and goes on a week long bachelor party to California's wine country with his best friend Miles. Jack is a womaniser, despite his imminent marriage, and has every intention of getting laid at every available opportunity. Miles is a failed author with a failed marriage behind him to book, and just wants to play golf and get drunk on good wine. Soon they meet two women, Stephanie, who falls for Jack, and Maya, who is obviously fond of Miles. Jack and Stephanie are soon having a frantic carnal relationship, but Miles and Maya have a much more cerebral relationship which looks as though it is going to end in love. Will Stephanie find out about Jack's marriage? Will Miles and Maya end up together?

Paul Giamatti plays Miles and is absolutely perfect for the role. Giamatti is not the standard good-looking Hollywood actor - he looks more like he belongs in a Woody Allen movie - but when playing an awkward, slightly eccentric loser, he is right at home. At times, I found myself cringeing, because in social situations, he really doesn't help himself. Throughout the course of the film, however, I really came to care for him - probably because I saw a great deal of myself in him. Miles is one of those people who prefers to take a back seat, waiting for life to grab him, which it invariably doesn't. Nevertheless, he isn't completely annoying, nor does he expect anyone to feel sorry for him and so the character works brilliantly. Giamatti is a much under-estimated actor who deserves to be much better known.

Jack is played by Thomas Haden Church, an actor I'm not at all familiar with. However, he was great as Jack, bringing a lot of humour into the film. In many ways, Jack is the complete opposite of Miles - he is self-confident, charming, good with women, with a good eye for the main chance. There were times when I really hated the character - he is certainly selfish and doesn't show all that much concern for his so-called best friend - but there is something about him that enables him to get away with murder. Church did a great job in the role and worked brilliantly with Paul Giamatti.

Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh play Maya and Stephanie. I particularly liked Sandra Oh. Stephanie is feisty, yet sweet at the same time and is more than a match for Jack and Sandra Oh is really good in the role - I really felt as though I would like to get to know her. Virginina Madsen is less impressive as Maya. This isn't entirely her fault - I think that the character is supposed to be fairly dull and uninspiring, but she perhaps took it a little too far. There were brief flashes of chemistry between Maya and Miles, but their on-screen time together is really very brief and we don't get the chance to really enjoy them as a couple.

The story, based on a book by Rex Pickett, starts off extremely slowly. There are lots of shots of Miles and Jack driving, Miles and Jack eating, Miles and Jack drinking wine, and I was distinctly underwhelmed. However, it was worth sticking with the film, because once the characters had been drawn, the story really kicked in and became highly appealing. There is a great deal of humour in the film; again, this takes a while to develop, but towards the end of the film there were some scenes that had me howling with laughter. This was something that I hadn't expected at all from the first part of the film, which was almost depressing at times. Much as I enjoyed the last third of the film, I do think the first third could have been a lot shorter - at 126 minutes, the film does seem to go on for a good twenty minutes longer than it needed to.

It may seem suprising that there is a rating of 15 on the film - but there are some sex scenes that are really not appropriate for children, as well as some full frontal nudity. There is also a lot of drinking and inappropriate behaviour on the part of Miles! However, I don't think there is much chance that anyone underage is going to get past the first half hour of the film anyway - it is much too slow-moving for impatient teens. This is most certainly a character-driven film and one that will be most appreciated by adults who have experienced the ups and downs of life. I think it will appeal to both men and women - it is very much a film about two men and their problems, but I think women will appreciate it too - I know I certainly did.

There are a few extras with the DVD. Firstly, the ubiquitous audio commentary by the two main actors. Then there is a very short behind the scenes featurette, consisting of interviews with the four main actors and the director, Alexander Payne. It was interesting, but a longer version would have made more sense; instead it seemed as if everything was crammed into just six minutes. Then there's a deleted scenes section, which is fairly dull, and something called 'Inside Look' which turned out to be a glimpse of upcoming films (at the time of the DVD release) by Fox movies.

I'm glad that I stuck with the film, it did end up being something I really enjoyed. I can imagine though, that a lot of people would struggle to get through the first half an hour, seeing the story as a navel-gazing exercise - and I can't help but reiterate that the director would have done himself a favour by cutting the beginning by twenty minutes or so. It does help to build up the characters, but if people are bored enough to switch off, well-portrayed characters are ultimately unimportant. That aside, I think the film will appeal to adults, male and female, whether interested in wine or not. Four stars out of five.  

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