movie review - Sideways
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-eight years and a million words
Wow I liked this movie. It's about two ageing friends with little in common beyond their being room-mates in their first year of University. The two friends are night and day. One is a novelist, the other a fading actor*. Whereas the former, divorced and withdrawn, spends the movie awaiting word on whether his book will be published, the latter spends the trip (ostensibly a pre-wedding tour) womanizing and being an self-centered twit.
The two Californians have hit the road on a jaunt around central California's wine country to celebrate the impending marriage of one of them. As the less stable of the two friends - a divorced novelist - skirts a nervous breakdown while waiting to hear whether his latest novel will be published, his less mature buddy pursues an ill-advised last binge in wine women and song. Well, wine and women, anyway.
Before it's over, each has had his own show-down with his hangups. And in a testament to the strength of the writing, the responses of the two seem so 'true' that though the scenes are presented in a comedic fashion, the two characters endure the tribulations they face very differently and with very different outcomes. The whole manages a lasting effectiveness.
With flawless plotting and brilliant shooting, this is a gem. I'm going buy a copy when I get the chance.
*note: (Naturally, it was the nerdy and somewhat pompous novelist that hooked me on this. I identified with him in so many scenes it was terrifying. All the more so in that his friend is so different; this reminded me strongly of my relationships with more confident and in-the-moment friends.)
Strongly recommended.