Sideways

Review by Tim Basham

Recently divorced Felix — I mean Miles — is particular about a lot of things, especially wine.

And when his loud and obnoxious friend Oscar — I mean Jack — sets them both up with a couple of girls one night, Miles (or is it really Felix?) almost ruins the evening by wallowing in “the dark side” over the collapse of his marriage.

Such are the inevitable comparisons of Sideways to Neil Simon’s 1960’s hit The Odd Couple.

The Sideways script is taken from a Rex Picket novel, and the adapted screenplay by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor has The Odd Couple written all over it. The good news is that the comparisons in no way detract from a terrific film.

One time soap opera star Jack (Thomas Haden Church) is getting married in a week. So, he and his best friend and best man, eighth-grade English teacher Miles (Paul Giamatti), drive north from San Diego to the California wine country for a few days of wine, golf and male camaraderie.

As neurotics go, Felix Unger has nothing over Miles who as an amateur wine connoisseur breathes, sips and savours his wine. Jack gulps. Miles continually frets over the possible publication of his first novel. Jack wants to jump the bones of every girl he meets, just days before his wedding. They are this generation’s odd couple—always fighting one another, always saving one another.

Miles saves Jack from the women he’s teed off, and Jack saves Miles from himself. And the contention between the two friends brings a magic of cinematic chemistry other “buddy films” only hope to achieve.

Church’s Oscar-nominated performance is one of his best since his sitcom days of “Ned & Stacy” and “Wings”. As Jack, he tells Miles of his serious “plight” which is to basically bed as many women as he can before he gets married.

Miles, on the other hand, has no interest in meeting women—happy instead to anguish over the news of his ex-wife’s new marriage. But he begrudgingly agrees to a double date with Jack.

Before entering the restaurant to meet the girls, Jack warns Miles to behave and to not ruin the evening. Miles yells back “If anybody orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I AM NOT DRINKING MERLOT!”

The perfectly cast Virginia Madsen, as Maya, becomes strongly attracted to Miles, in spite of the land mines he throws out between them.

And Sandra Oh, as Jack’s pre-nuptial fling Stephanie, has a scene-stealing Goodfella’s moment when she discovers that Jack is engaged and uses a motorcycle helmet as a lethal weapon.

Giamatti’s 2003 role in American Splendor was considered his breakthrough. But in Sideways his realistic and understated portrayal of Miles is masterful. And though shunned by the Academy, he did win numerous critics’ awards.

The film editing pays tribute to the comedy-dramas of the '60s with split screens and outdoor backlighting. And the film score by Rolfe Kent is reminiscent of the early Charlie Brown television specials and (not surprisingly) The Odd Couple.

In a year in which Sideways received seven Golden Globe nominations (more than any other film) it seems only appropriate that Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl — which won a Golden Globe for best screenplay in 1978 — also received a Golden Globe nomination (Patricia Heaton-best actress) this year. It’s wonderful to see Simon’s influence on today’s scripts.

In Hollywood, a good story never really dies. It just recycles — sometimes into something really good like Sideways.

4.5 out of 5

Sideways
Australian release: Wednesday January 26th, 2005
Cast: Thomas Haden Church, Paul Giamatti, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh.
Director: Alexander Payne.
Website: Click here.

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