Sideways

A wine tasting road trip to salute Jack's (Thomas Haden Church) final days as a bachelor careens woefully sideways as he and Miles (Paul Giamatti) hit the gas en route to mid-life crises. The comically mismatched pair, who share little more than their history and a heady blend of failed potential and fading youth, soon find themselves drowning in wine and women (Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen). Emerging from a haze of pinot noir, wistful yearnings and trepidation about the future, the two inevitably collide with reality. SIDEWAYS was directed by Alexander Payne (ABOUT SCHMIDT) who teamed with his longtime screenwriting partner Jim Taylor to adapt Rex Pickett's novel of the same name. "If film critics employed a 0 to 100 rating scale such as some wine critics do, then SIDEWAYS would rate about a 98." -- Kirk Honeycutt, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER "It's a joy to watch comedy unfold so naturally, the laughs gently teased out from our growing knowledge of the characters, their imperfections, doubts and, yes, emotional pain." -- Megan Lehmann, NEW YORK POST