The one great redeeming quality of this movie is its philosophical consistency. It's about a middle-aged man who has populated his life with pretensions - that he is a writer, an epicure, and an expert on wine. This movie will appeal exclusively to those with an all-too common and all-too-similar conceit: that they "appreciate good movies." Sideways is a brilliantly acted, brilliantly polished turd. The direction and editing is superb, the acting is magnificent and the characters have both depth and realism.
BUT THE MOVIE SUCKS.
In fact, it prides itself on its sucking. Our protagonists are a pathetic and self-pitying (though utterly self-absorbed) writer-aesthete wannabe and an unsuccessful TV actor whose stated purpose is to cheat on his fiancée as often as possible in the week before his wedding. These characters are drawn with subtlety and artistry, and both actors turn in bravura performances, but when all's said and done it's impossible to give the proverbial rodent's behind about either of them. If the film had concluded with every major character dying painfully, the emotional impact would have been a nice round zero.
To enjoy this movie you have to identify with the main character Miles, and to identify with Miles you have to have a smug self-pitying streak a mile wide. Let me make something absolutely clear: MILES IS NOT TALENTED. That the director would choose to betray the preceding seven hours at the very end by making Maya (as uninteresting a love interest as I can imagine) appreciate his behemoth of a novel is neither here nor there - Miles is not a good writer, or a good anything. If you've never written a novel, you might think that Miles is what a writer is like. If you have, you know that he's a talentless hack.
I repeat, it's only the MOVIE that is bad. The acting is excellent; except for Madsen's pale and boring millstone of a character, everybody shows up and turns in a good show. But the movie itself is really, really awful.
Not funny.
Not romantic.
Not charming.
Sideways manages to be both contemptuous and contemptible, small and small-minded. I won't bother enumerating the many, many ways in which this movie shows its contempt for anybody who isn't a lifeless oenophile.
I walked into Sideways thinking I was going to love it. I tried so, so hard, but it just broke my heart. This movie hates you, and it wants you to suffer - and if you genuinely enjoyed it you should be ashamed of yourself.
Two thumbs down.
BUT THE MOVIE SUCKS.
In fact, it prides itself on its sucking. Our protagonists are a pathetic and self-pitying (though utterly self-absorbed) writer-aesthete wannabe and an unsuccessful TV actor whose stated purpose is to cheat on his fiancée as often as possible in the week before his wedding. These characters are drawn with subtlety and artistry, and both actors turn in bravura performances, but when all's said and done it's impossible to give the proverbial rodent's behind about either of them. If the film had concluded with every major character dying painfully, the emotional impact would have been a nice round zero.
To enjoy this movie you have to identify with the main character Miles, and to identify with Miles you have to have a smug self-pitying streak a mile wide. Let me make something absolutely clear: MILES IS NOT TALENTED. That the director would choose to betray the preceding seven hours at the very end by making Maya (as uninteresting a love interest as I can imagine) appreciate his behemoth of a novel is neither here nor there - Miles is not a good writer, or a good anything. If you've never written a novel, you might think that Miles is what a writer is like. If you have, you know that he's a talentless hack.
I repeat, it's only the MOVIE that is bad. The acting is excellent; except for Madsen's pale and boring millstone of a character, everybody shows up and turns in a good show. But the movie itself is really, really awful.
Not funny.
Not romantic.
Not charming.
Sideways manages to be both contemptuous and contemptible, small and small-minded. I won't bother enumerating the many, many ways in which this movie shows its contempt for anybody who isn't a lifeless oenophile.
I walked into Sideways thinking I was going to love it. I tried so, so hard, but it just broke my heart. This movie hates you, and it wants you to suffer - and if you genuinely enjoyed it you should be ashamed of yourself.
Two thumbs down.