Cheers to this damn good old vintage American comedy! The film is definitely worth your eager anticipation. No other film than "Life with a Glass of Wine" can bring you such a good feeling this year. It has powerful elements: director Alexander Payne (Citizen Ruth, "School", "About Schmidt") is an inspirational director that blends wit and emotional tension into something interesting and important. In; Payne and Jim Taylor co-created a brilliant screenplay (the story is based on Rex Pickett's novel), the level of adaptation is definitely a classic work of screenwriting, transforming the ordinary dialogue into a classic comedy; in addition, also There are four cast members who can be called the movie dream team.
What is there in this story that can attract the attention of these big cows? At first glance, the film looks very much like a low-level bromance movie. Failed novelist Miles (Paul Giamatti), a soon-to-be best man at a friend's wedding in Los Angeles, takes his buddy Jack (Thomas Haden Church), an out-of-date soap opera star relegated to advertising, to The last trip before marriage. They are going to the Santa Ynez Valley in California. Miles, who knows a little wine, is here just to drink local wine to relieve his worries. Jack, who does not understand wine at all, is here to meet the hot waitress. "Go big." Well, Hollywood absolutely loves to make this kind of film, if Payne (director) really wants to just make this kind of sleazy film, then I wish him to die.
Payne has crafted this comedy that goes beyond the norm. The film "Life with a Glass of Wine" is as drunk as the protagonist: temptation, vulnerability, and fame. Miles and his wife have been decadent for two years after their divorce. The job of teaching English in middle school is half-dead. At the same time, he is worried that his novel may never be published. What is more painful is that his ex-wife has remarried, "Oye" Also fucking happy. So now the drugs can't stop his passion for wine.
The story unfolds through two people walking into the lives of two women. Maya (played by Virginia Madsen, often seen as a stunner in '80s films, such as "Hot Spots") is a waiter obsessed with wine, and Miles doesn't have the courage to strike up a conversation with her. To help him, Jack arranges a four-person date by hooking up with Maya's charming friend Stephanie (Joshan Wu). Stephanie is a single mom whose job is to pour wine for tourists at a winery. She and Jack sensually cherish each other, but Jack doesn't tell her that he's getting married soon. The film is wonderfully and interestingly arranged, pulling the four together into a moral dilemma through just one hilariously classic dinner scene. And laughter is always accompanied by a feeling in "Life with a Glass of Wine". This feeling came quietly, but Kou set his heart.
The actors performed amazingly in this film. The female No. 2 Oh (Sanzhuo Wu) is a sneering general. No. 2 Church is best known for his roles on TV series Wings and Ned and Stacey, where he plays the irresistibly charming asshole Jake. Church has mastered this ground-breaking role, capturing Jack's characteristic rude charm and inner desperation. The male lead, Giamatti, is an American god-level actor who looks both joyful and sad. And Madsen, the female number one, was a big surprise in the film, but the years have made her more and more moving, and her grasp of the role is more delicate and moving. Attention Oscar judges: this year's Best Supporting Actress is here! Payne (director) gives Madsen and Giamatti one of the film's most gripping scenes, which doesn't appear in the original novel, Miles describes himself as a moody black wine, and Maya is talking about how wine evolved , fermented, refined, blended, and finally made into a "fucking good" wine, Maya's language is perfectly used in the film. At this moment, she opened the bottle of '61 Château Cheval Blanc that Miles had kept for many years (one of the best Bordeaux wines) and said, "I think the day you opened the '61 Château Cheval Blanc must be a special moment. "
"Life with a Glass of Wine" is undoubtedly that special moment. Those who are sceptical about this can not rush it to be regarded as a classic work, or they can test this film through time. That makes a lot of sense, but it would be an understatement to call it a surprise bliss movie right now.
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Rolling Stone
Raise your glasses to a vintage American comedy that gets damn near everything right you can wait around and hope, but you won't have a better time at the movies this year than you will at Sideways. This baby has it all: inspired direction by Alexander Payne (Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt), who fuses bracing wit and emotional gravity into something funny, touching and vital; a nuanced script by Payne and Jim Taylor, from Rex Pickett's novel, that serves as a model of screen adaptation by shaping dialogue into classic comic contours; and a quartet of actors who qualify as a cinematic dream team.
And to what end have these paragons turned their attention? A lowly buddy flick, from a quick glance. Miles (Paul Giamatti), a failed novelist, is taking his best pal, Jack (Thomas Haden Church), a former soap star reduced to doing commercials, on a last fling before Miles serves as best man at Jack's LA wedding. Their destination is California's Santa Ynez Valley, where wine-snob Miles hopes to drink himself sideways on the local vino and wine-idiot Jack hopes to get his " bone smooched" by hottie waitresses. Hollywood would love to make that movie. Payne, bless him, would rather die.
Payne crafts human comedies that transcend formula. Sideways is drunk on wine: its allure, its fragility, its vocabulary. Miles has been officially depressed for two years — that's when his wife left him. He is stagnant in his job teaching English, anxious that his novel will never be published and bitter that his wife has remarried and is — yikes! — happy. But not even Xanax and Lexapro can dull his passion for the grape.
Enter two women to stir up the plot. Maya, played by Virginia Madsen (the bombshell from Eighties movies such as The Hot Spot), is a wine-obsessed waitress that Miles can't find the courage to hit on. It's Jack who intercedes . He sets up a date by flirting with Maya's sassy friend Stephanie (the dazzling Sandra Oh), a single mom who pours wine for tourists. Stephanie is Jack's equal in carnal come-ons, but he neglects to tell her about his wedding plans, setting up a killingly funny revenge that is trumped only by a hilarious tour de force of a dinner scene that unites the foursome in moral chaos. The laughs in Sideways are laced with feelings that can sneak up and knock you flat.
The actors work miracles. Oh is a deadpan delight. Church, best known for TV's Wings and Ned and Stacey, is irresistibly appealing as rat-bastard Jack. Church takes his breakthrough movie role and runs with it, nailing Jack's rude charm and quiet desperation . Giamatti, a god among American character actors, has never been better, which is saying something. He's hilarious and heartbreaking. And Madsen is a revelation. The years have made her beauty richer, her grasp of character more subtle and affecting. Note to the Academy: The Oscar for Best Supporting Actress belongs right here. Payne gives Madsen and Giamatti the film's most transfixing moments — not in the novel — in which Miles sees himself as a temperamental pinot noir and Maya praises wine for how it evolves, gains complexity , peaks and "tastes so fucking good."Maya's words also apply nicely to the movie. She blasts Miles for hoarding a '61 Cheval Blanc (one of the greatest Bordeaux) for a special occasion: "I think the day you open a '61 Cheval Blanc, that's the special occasion."
Sideways is inarguably a special occasion. Doubters may hedge about calling it a classic and might insist on checking back in a few years to see how it has aged. Fair enough. But it's not too early to call it pure movie bliss.
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