Sideways

The chances are if you've been reading/listening to reviews then you've been assaulted by the waves of warm-and-fuzzies created by 'Sideways'. Two middle-aged men go on a weeklong tour of a wine region in America before one characters wedding. Yep loser comedy meets roadmovie (but not in space), both are failed something -actor and author. The author has a failed marriage and the actor is going to be married but wont give up picking up women. Our stooges set up, it's time to take them on the road. What follows is the moping of our writer and an introduction to wine-tasting, the jokes at this point establish why its so popular. The entire movie is a criticism of those who taste wine but don't know anything about wine and those who've never been to a wine tasting. Its almost an exclusive club and hands you the key to becoming a member, all you need to do is just say 'pinot noir' and nod sagely; try it at your next cocktail party. Our stooges strike upon a pair of ladies, our author has known one lady for years but she has been unachievable...until now! Alot more moping and we hit the extremely mediocre middle, entirely predictable plots occur for our charcters and our symapathies are manipulated. We're left wondering who the real loser is...well we would be if we hadn't already wondered this at the start. Who would have guessed that our dear author is like a wine before and the wines he owns serve as a metaphor for his life...*groan*
The truth of the film is that the entire piece is a cry for attention, middle league sitcom actors (yep, I recognised them!) acting in a low-budget film which has the potential to be big. This potential is the dinner party effect, people will recommend it as the must see lowbudget film. The thing is that although theres very little to endear it I actually enjoyed it. A mid-80s woody allen film, the jokes are good but he tries too hard to make a point, a point we don;t need and have heard before. The point is confused though, these arnt loveable losers, they're very annoying losers and Im not sure I could stand living around them as they continually go through these phases of self-discovery and relapse.
Worth watching for the comedy and a naked man chasing a car (always good)
Anyway see what you think but don't pay £6, I felt had.