Sideways (R)
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Caution: potential spoilers.

This is one of those things I eventually watched on DVD, specifically because of the critical acclaim it had received. And I guess I liked it, but not enough that I thought I'd ever want to see it again. And some years later, I deleted my review... but later decided to restore it. And maybe I would like to see it again, someday; I'm not sure. Also I should say I originally had it under "dramedy," so now maybe I should move it to "seriocomedy," but... I kind of feel like it may have been quirky enough to put here, instead. If I ever do see it again, I may reconsider.

Anyway, there's this struggling actor named Jack Thomas Haden Church), who's about to get married. But first he goes on a weeklong trip with his friend Miles (Paul Giamatti), an English teacher and frustrated novelist. Miles is also a connoisseur of wine, and he's been divorced for two years, though he hasn't gotten over it. He takes Jack to taste wines at various California locales, though Jack doesn't really know anything about wine. He likes anything. And his main objective on this trip is to get laid before he gets married. He also wants to help Miles get laid. The two of them eventually hook up with a couple of women named Stephanie (Sandra Oh) and Maya (Virginia Madsen).

What else to say? I dunno. I liked the movie as a whole, and individual scenes, somewhat... Miles reminded me slightly of myself (though I have no palate worth speaking of; I'm probably more like Jack, when it comes to wine). There was this bit where Maya was talking about why she was interested in wine, and Miles was obviously totally into her at that moment, but... wouldn't let anything come of it. I totally felt that. But, eventually... they got together. Then it came out that Jack was getting married, which ruined things for both Jack and Miles. And... more stuff happens. I dunno. I can't think of anything else to say. It was, you know, reasonably interesting and amusing, I guess. And if I ever do watch it again, I'll probably drink some merlot while doing so. Just because Miles rather famously ranted against it, though I have no idea why. (But I guess it was funny.)