Sideways

Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church make an odd couple of long-time friends who spend a funny, revealing and sometimes touching time together during a tour of California’s wine country in Sideways, the new film from the director of About Schmidt.

Giamatti plays sad sack, Miles a teacher and aspiring novelist who still has not recovered from his divorce two year earlier. Church is Jack, a washed up actor who is about to be married but, before he takes the plunge, he wants to have a final fling, so when wine connoisseur, Miles takes him on their vineyard visit, Jack intends to enjoy his “last taste of freedom” between slurps of Chardonnay – or whatever, because to Jack all wine tastes the same. Although they have been friends since college, the neurotic, unhappy Miles and the easy-going Jack could not be more unalike. Miles envisions a quiet time of wine sipping and golfing; Jack sees their trip as a weeklong party and an opportunity for him to sow a few last wild oats. Because he believes Miles has been “officially depressed for, like, two years” he is also determined to help his old friend re-discover fun.