Sideways (2004)
There is one huge problem with "Sideways"
and it is Thomas Hayden Church. Playing the character
he perfected in TV's "Ned and Stacey" in the 90's,
the bloated, lethargic, one- note Church sinks this
film like a 50 pound anchor.
Granted, the script is pretty lazy
and sedentary as well, so all of the blame cannot
be placed on Church, but it's sad to see Paul Giamatti,
Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh work so hard to generate
any momentum here when they ultimately end up only
spinning their wheels against the unmovable object
that is Church's lackluster performance and the lackluster
script.
"Sideways" is the new film from
Alexander Payne, oh he of the monumental kudos-making
machines "Election" and "About Schmidt." Payne hits
a snag here with a typical and hackneyed story about
two male friends on the road, taking a trip one week
before one of them is to be married. Along the way,
of course, they hook up with some fun-loving local
girls and fall in love with them. It's the sort of
thing that usually stars college-aged guys. (You expect
Jason Biggs and Seann Williams Scott in this sort
of dreck). But apparently Payne thinks its clever
to move the genre into the realm of 40-year olds.
It's not. It's annoying.
To instigate a spark of believability
into the realm of adulthood romantic comedies, Payne
uses wine as a metaphor here and the audience is forced
to suffer one trite simile after another about how
wine ages and becomes mature and stuff. It's pretty
obvious scriptwriting posing as poetic New Age wisdom.
Although the wine angle in the film is new, the way
it is used is as tired as a two-dollar whore on the
first of the month.
For what it's worth, Giamatti and
Madsen do develop a nice chemistry and their romance
and story is eventually quite interesting. But to
get through it we have to suffer though scene after
scene of Giamatti being a schlub and Church being
a jerk. God help us, we even have to see Church's
naked ass. It is not something that is easily forgotten
and I don't mean that in a good way. When Payne resorts
to nudity a second time, involving a middle-aged redneck
male, for an extended gag, you know this film is sunk
in the mire of his sadly stagnant ideas.
"Sideways" is not pleasant to view,
even right-side-up.
Note:
The film debuted at the Toronto
Film Festival in September of 2004.
Viewed in October 2004 as a part
of the Austin
Film Festival at the Paramount Theater.
