With all the awards Sideways was nominated for (and won a fair amount), I wanted to watch it, but just like some of the other critically acclaimed films, the only appeal to Sideways was to see why the critics raved so much about it.
Sure, I appreciate Paul Giamatti (especially in “Safe Men”, if you haven’t seen it), but he’s not the type of actor who draws me to films or television mini-series. I probably won’t ever see John Adams, nor Lady in the Water, and I’m yet to see Cinderella Man and The Illusionist. To me, movies need to have something more than just great actors to draw me to it, and movies about middle-aged men taking wine tasting trips? Not really a draw for me.
Sideways was a pretty decent movie, and while Giamatti did a fairly good job in it, I wouldn’t say it was one of my favorites. It did have its moments where I laughed a bit, but that was probably mostly due to Thomas Hayden Church, whose work I’ve appreciated since his role on Wings. Just like Paul Giamatti, he’s not a draw to this movie, either. In fact, his character was annoying and unsympathetic for most of the movie due to reasons I won’t mention in the review as not to spoil a significant portion of the plot.
I can’t really explain what Sandra Oh’s role was in the film, but she did a decent job. I prefer her work in Grey’s Anatomy and on ARLI$$, but her part in Sideways wasn’t big enough to overtake either of her other big roles. Towards the end of her involvement, she does a really good job, though.
I know I had seen Virginia Madsen in other movies prior to Sideways, but I didn’t remember her in any of them. Her performance was effortless, as she really seemed to become her character. I’ll try to look for other films she’s been in.
All in all, I’m betting that no more than half the readers of GuysNation would really enjoy this movie, but I’m guessing that not many of our readers would hate it enough to turn it off halfway through. My recommendation would be that if you are the type of guy who thinks that it’s a waste of time and money to drink wine, don’t watch this movie. If you don’t care about the types of struggles middle-aged men face, don’t watch this movie. Otherwise, give it a shot.
