Sideways

Sideways
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alexander Payne
Produced by	Michael London
Screenplay by	Alexander Payne Jim Taylor
Based on	Sideways  by Rex Pickett
Starring	Paul Giamatti Thomas Haden Church Virginia Madsen Sandra Oh
Music by	Rolfe Kent
Cinematography	Phedon Papamichael
Editing by	Kevin Tent
Distributed by	Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates	September 13, 2004 (2004-09-13) (Toronto) October 22, 2004 (2004-10-22) (US)
Running time	127 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$16 million
Box office	$109,502,303

Sideways is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne and directed by Payne. Adapted from Rex Pickett's 2004 novel of the same name, Sideways follows men in their forties, portrayed by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, who take a week-long road trip to Santa Barbara County Wine Country. Payne and Taylor won multiple awards for their screenplay. Giamatti and Church, as well as actresses Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh, playing local women who become romantically involved with the men, all received accolades for their performances.

Sideways won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and was nominated for four other awards.

Plot

Miles Raymond is an unsuccessful writer, a wine-aficionado, and a divorced, depressed, and borderline alcoholic middle-aged English teacher living in San Diego, who takes his soon-to-be-married actor friend and college roommate, Jack Cole, on a road trip through Santa Ynez Valley wine country. Years ago Jack starred in a popular TV series but is doing voice-overs now. Miles wants to relax and live well. However, Jack wants one last sexual fling.

In the wine country, the men encounter Maya, a waitress at Miles' favorite restaurant, The Hitching Post, and her friend, Stephanie, an employee at a local winery. They arrange a double date. During the date, Miles gets drunk and telephones Vicki, his ex-wife, after learning from Jack earlier that day that she is now remarried. They return to Stephanie's home where Jack has sex with Stephanie while Miles and Maya connect. As the week progresses, Jack's affair with Stephanie continues to the point where he believes he's falling in love with her and also bonds with her daughter, and makes the suggestion to Miles that they move there for him to be closer to Stephanie. After spending the day together, Miles and Maya return to her apartment and have sex. The next day Miles lets it slip that Jack is to be married. Disgusted with the dishonesty, Maya dumps Miles and tells Stephanie, who breaks Jack's nose using her motorcycle helmet.

Upon finding out his manuscript has been rejected again, Miles tries to drink from the spit bucket in a wine tasting room. That same night, Jack hooks up with another waitress named Cammi. Jack gets into deeper trouble when Cammi's husband comes home unexpectedly and Jack has to flee without his clothes and wallet (which contains the irreplaceable wedding rings). Miles sneaks into Cammi's house and barely escapes with Jack's wallet. To explain the broken nose to his fiancée, Jack runs Miles' Saab 900 convertible into a ditch to make it look like they had been in an accident.

At the wedding, Miles runs into his ex-wife Vicki and meets her new husband. After learning that she is also pregnant, Miles faces the fact that Vicki will never return to him. Alone, he drinks his prized wine, a 1961 Château Cheval Blanc, from a disposable coffee cup at a fast-food restaurant and falls into an even deeper depression. Later, he receives a message from Maya, who says she enjoyed his manuscript and invites him to visit. The last scene in the movie shows Miles back in Santa Ynez, knocking on Maya's door.

Cast

• Paul Giamatti as Miles Raymond
• Thomas Haden Church as Jack Cole
• Virginia Madsen as Maya Randall
• Sandra Oh as Stephanie
• Marylouise Burke as Phyllis Raymond
• Jessica Hecht as Victoria
• Stephanie Faracy as Stephanie's mother
• Missy Doty as Cammi
• M.C. Gainey as Cammi's husband
• Alysia Reiner as Christine Erganian
• Shake Tukhmanyan as Mrs. Erganian
• Shaun Duke as Mike Erganian
• Phil Reeves as Vacationing Dr. Walt Hendricks

Reception

The Hitching Post II Restaurant in Buellton – where Miles and Jack first encounter Maya.

Time Out said the film was "intelligent, funny and moving,"^[1] and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars, saying "what happens during the seven days adds up to the best human comedy of the year – comedy, because it is funny, and human, because it is surprisingly moving."^[2] The review aggregator Metacritic gives Sideways a Metascore of 94%, signifying "universal [critical] acclaim."^[3] The movie also holds a rare 96% rating at Rotten Tomatoes with 206 positive reviews out of 213.^[4]

A surprise hit, Sideways became popular in Hollywood, the US and internationally. Santa Ynez Valley, where much of the film is set, attracted increased tourism. The film was nominated for dozens of awards, winning many, and was dubbed "the best reviewed movie of 2004." With the exception of Giamatti, who had already starred in critically acclaimed films such as American Splendor, the film was a career breakthrough for the stars. Church and Madsen were each nominated for the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe Award, and Academy Award for their performances, winning the Independent Spirit Award for their respected categories. Giamatti has since been headlined as "The World's Best Character Actor" by Time magazine.^[5] In 2005, Giamatti was nominated for both the Golden Globe Award and Academy Award for his performance in Cinderella Man, winning the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and Screen Actors Guild Award. Sandra Oh, who has since broken up with the film's director, Alexander Payne, has gone on to star in the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy for which she won two Screen Actors Guild Awards and one Golden Globe Award.

Sideways has been ranked 494th on Empire's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.^[6]

Awards and nominations

Impact on wine industry

Throughout the film, Miles speaks fondly of the red wine varietal Pinot Noir, while denigrating Merlot.^[7][8] Following the film's U.S. release in October 2004, Merlot sales dropped 2% while Pinot Noir sales increased 16% in the Western United States. A similar trend occurred in British wine outlets.^[8][9] Other reports also claimed anecdotally that sales of Merlot dropped after the film's release.^{[10][11][12][10][13]} A 2009 study by Sonoma State University found that Sideways slowed the growth in Merlot sales volume and caused its price to fall, but the film's main effect on the wine industry was a rise in the sales volume and price of pinot noir, and in overall wine consumption.^[14]

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack album features 15 jazz instrumentals composed and produced by Rolfe Kent and was orchestrated and arranged for the band by Tony Blondal. The album was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for "Best Original Score", and the music so popular there was demand for a national tour. Eventually a few cities were chosen to perform in as the composer was too busy to commit to more.

1. "Asphalt Groovin'" – 4:00
2. "Constantine Snaps His Fingers" – 3:03
3. "Drive!" – 3:56
4. "Picnic" – 2:15
5. "Lonely Day" – 1:40
6. "Wine Safari" – 2:13
7. "Miles' Theme" – 2:59
8. "Los Olivos" – 2:43
9. "Chasing the Golfers" – 3:03
10. "Walk to Hitching Post" – 2:32
11. "Abandoning the Wedding" – 3:25
12. "Slipping Away As Mum Sleeps" – 1:00
13. "Bowling Tango" – 0:49
14. "I'm Not Drinking Any #@%!$ Merlot!" – 1:13
15. "Miles And Maya" – 2:26

Remake

Fox International Productions and Fuji TV released a Japanese-language remake of the film in October 2009,^[15] often referred to in English as Saidoweizu (the anglicization of its Japanese title). The film is directed by Cellin Gluck and stars Katsuhisa Namase, Fumiyo Kohinata, Kyōka Suzuki, and Rinko Kikuchi, and has a soundtrack composed and performed by Hawaiian-born ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro.

The remake shifts the setting of the film to Napa Valley. Although listed as an executive producer, Payne was not involved with the remake but gave it his blessing.^[16] Giamatti declined an invitation to appear in an unspecified cameo appearance in the film.^[17]

See also

• List of American films of 2004

References

External links

• Sideways at the Internet Movie Database
• Sideways at allmovie
• Sideways at Box Office Mojo
• Sideways at Rotten Tomatoes
• Sideways at Metacritic
• Sideways review by Roger Ebert
• The Danish Soul of That Town in Sideways