Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004)
Alexander Payne’s Sideways is a small, impeccably done character study that may just get crushed under the expectations that are surrounding it. It arrives in Australia swathed in Oscar and Golden Globes buzz, and with strong reviews from some notable critics (such as David Stratton’s 5 star rave on At the Movies). Inflated hopes are the enemy of a movie such as this: while a blockbuster action picture’s sheer mass gives it some resistance to hype, a picture as slight as Sideways can be left seeming diminished if the experience is anything less than transcendent. I was left slightly underwhelmed by Sideways, which is a shame, because the film itself did nothing wrong: it’s pretty much note-perfect, and deserves to be assessed without the burden of Awards hopes. While I’m sure Alexander Payne won’t want to send his Golden Globe for Best Picture back – the award was given while I was writing this review – but it may be that the film itself would have been more comfortable quietly finding its audience.
It centres on two friends, Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), who go on a week-long tour of Californian wine country prior to Jack’s marriage. Miles, a neurotic and struggling writer, is the wine buff; while small time actor Jack is more intent on the women behind the counter. The film is unflinching in its view of both men, with neither wholly sympathetic. Miles is mourning the loss of his marriage and has sunk into depression, while Jack’s self-involvement takes the form of a freewheeling hedonism. At first, there is little to separate them in terms of audience sympathy – if anything, Jack’s unpretentious willingness to enjoy wine without critiquing it to death makes him seem more likeable. Over their week away, however, both launch into new relationships, and their approach to the new women in their lives (Maya, played by Virginia Madsen, and Stephanie, played by Sandra Oh) gives more insight into the real character of the two men. Despite his flaws, Miles emerges as the better man, although it’s left right to the end to see if has truly been redeemed.
Perhaps it’s the wine-buff content that has led to the rapturous reception for the film. Certainly, I’m surprised this scene hasn’t been front-and-centre in a prominent movie before (it probably has, actually, in something I’ve missed or forgotten). Of course, by poking fun at pretentious wine drinkers, Payne is also lampooning much of the core demographic for small boutique pictures such as this: middle-class, thirty-or-forty-something inner suburban yuppies. But I suppose wine buffs are like Star Trek fans: they all believe their own level of obsession is perfectly reasonable, but those who care even more are totally insane. Just as we geeks can enjoy Galaxy Quest without really feeling it’s us that are being laughed at, the wine quaffers laugh knowingly at Miles’ obsession and Jack’s philistinism, safe in the knowledge that they occupy the middle ground between the extremes.
The film is very knowing about its wine, and about alcoholism. When Miles and Jack have their first date with Maya and Stephanie, Miles drinks too much, and I can’t remember a film that evokes the feel of drunkenness so perfectly. Miles drinks to the brink, and then lays off, and the different stages of the evening are shaped by his level of intoxication: first a mist of blurred impressions, then emotional disarray, and then – as he sobers up slightly – an emotional connection with his drinking partner that he is too listless to take advantage of. More importantly, the film’s astute with regards to the impulses that drive these two men, and Giamatti and Church bring depth and subtlety to characters that could easily have been very broad, with Miles a Woody Allen clone, or Jack as Sam from Cheers. Church, in particular, is good enough that I couldn’t pick where I’d seen him before (it turned out to have been the mid-90s sitcom Ned & Stacey). Despite fine performances by Madsen and Oh, the women remain secondary to the men: they are better people, to be sure, but of less interest to Payne as a result. There is almost nobody else in the movie – Payne trusts his script (co-written with Jim Taylor, from Rex Pickett’s novel) and his actors to carry the day.
For the most part they do, although Payne seems a little uncertain how to end the film, with a funny but implausible farcical scene late in the film bleeding into an indecisive finale. It’s minor criticism though, and perhaps it’s apt that in a road movie such as this the journey is more enjoyable than the destination.