Tastes Pretty Good To Me: Alexander Payne's Sideways

If you've been following my recent reviews (doubtful) and enjoying what you've read (wishful thinking), you may have noticed a trend. Not only do I exert masterful control of the English language (ha!), but I also tend to give a lot of five star reviews. I don't want to appear like one of those unreliable fifteen year-olds who post their thoughts on Amazon.com using all caps and horrible grammar, giving everything a five star review. I am normally very particular, and I've just so happened to write many of my reviews on some of my favorite films and albums. For my next review I promise to pick something that I'm less ecstatic over in an effort to stay fair and balanced. But for Alexander Payne's peerless adaptation of the Rex Pickett novel, I'm forced to once again bestow a product with the coveted five stars of approval.

Sideways stars Paul Giamatti as Miles, a depressed writer who's just written his seven-hundred page manuscript with the hopes of finding a publisher. He's been divorced now for two years, and his personal life is starting to tailspin. His best friend, Jack (Thomas Haden Church), is getting married in a week, and Miles is taking the two of them on a weeklong getaway of golf and wine tastings in Southern California. Hilarity and heartbreak follow. As described very aptly by one Epinions reviewer, it's "a buddy movie for people who don't like buddy movies."

It's hard to mention anything about Sideways without bringing up the acting. Paul Giamatti, staggeringly overlooked for an Oscar nomination, literally brought Miles to life. He managed to give a sad character a charisma and soul that made him identifiable and utterly appealing. Thomas Haden Church, receiving a long-overdue career boost, has the difficult task of trying to make a womanizing jerk likable. In my opinion, he succeeds wholeheartedly. Virginia Madsen gives a very subdued performance as Mya, and it's hard to fully appreciate after just one viewing. She gives Mya an inward beauty as a sincere and loving woman who can look past all of Miles' problems and see the happiness underneath his thick skin of depression and sarcasm. Lastly, I want to mention Sandra Oh (Payne's wife), often overshadowed by her costars but equally as impressive.

One thing I've noticed as I watch Alexander Payne's films is his careful attention to the small details of everyday life: the realistic mise-en-scene for you film buffs out there. He always seems to place the characters in realistic settings that audience members can constantly associate with. Although hardly noticeable, it takes very careful planning. If you look closely, you'll notice the small details. Payne uses real locations and products that give everything a very authentic feeling. Even his careful music choices fit perfectly with their settings (Eddie Money's "Two Tickets to Paradise" plays as Jack and Miles argue in a bar).

Election and About Schmidt had both of these qualities, but Sideways manages to rise a step above its predecessors due to its superior dialogue and script. That's definitely not meant to discount the script of the other two aforementioned films; the dialogue just never seemed quite so free-flowing and natural. Every conversation sounds like something you could easily overhear coming from the barstool next to you.

Payne also seems to have a masterful command of balancing heartbreaking drama with hysterical comedy. Granted, he gets a lot of help from Rolfe Kent's eloquent jazz score that accentuates the film, but Payne also has incredible comic timing. He saves the best until the end, but keeps the pace going with some excellently placed observational jokes. That's one reason that this two-plus hour long movie doesn't seem to drag on.

If you don't identify with Miles or don't like Jack, then it's doubtful you'll think very highly of this movie. A lot of the humor is tongue-in-cheek (until the end), so if you prefer Billy Madison to Punch Drunk Love, then this one may not be for you.

I felt a very strong connection to Miles, and I thought Jack was one of the funniest movie characters in years. Naturally, I loved this film, my second favorite of the year (behind Million Dollar Baby). I think it's criminal that Giamatti didn't get an Oscar nod for this film, and if you're tastes are anything like mine, then it will also be criminal if you don't check this one out.