Sideways

Dan

Senior Member
Aug 28, 2003
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Aiken, SC
(by special request)

I think my biggest problem with this movie is the fact that I had sort of built it up too much in my head. With so many award nominations, recommendations, etc., I expected a really big movie, and it turned out to be a really small, really human movie.

I guess the biggest problem with the movie is that it is very realistic. The people we think are good sometimes do bad things without repurcussion. The two main characters are basically a loser and a womanizer.

I guess the movie just didn't ring that true with me. Probably because it was mainly about getting older, midlife crises, and that sort of thing, stuff that a 22-year-old simply can't identify with that well.

I think this probably worked better as a book than it does on film. I think if we could have a clear path into the characters' minds, it would enhance the story more, which is something that's mostly impossible to accomplish on film.

So, basically, it's a movie where you're stuck with two mostly unlikable characters and you either have to accept them for who they are or you're never going to appreciate the movie, and I guess I just couldn't do that.

I liked Alexander Payne's earlier movies (Citizen Ruth, Election) much better than this. In all fairness, his movies have always had main characters who were rather unlikable, but I liked them better, for some reason.

Here's one thing I want to ask everyone who's seen it: do you think Paul Giamatti's character is an alcoholic? I've heard valid points on both sides, and I want to get everyone's opinion. I say yes.
 
Yipes.. I started to post regarding this movie earlier - I just saw it last night. I gave up because there was nothing good I could say about it..

Pig Vomit should have just taken the money he made from the Howard Stern movie, and ran with it.
 
Dan said:
I guess the movie just didn't ring that true with me.
I agree. Paul Giamatti gives me the creeps, and not for one second did I believe that a woman like Virginia Madsen would be enamored with him. Thomas Haden Church's character was amusing, but unreal. I do not think that Virginia Madsen's nomination for Best Supporting Actress was justified.
 
Dan said:
do you think Paul Giamatti's character is an alcoholic? I've heard valid points on both sides, and I want to get everyone's opinion. I say yes.

Without question he was an alcoholic. He dealt with every problem he encountered with excess drinking. The day he found out his exwife had remarried, the night he spent alone and Virginia Madsen's character was gone from the restaurant, or when he learned his book was not excepted by the publisher. One of the final scene of him drinking his one valued wine out of a foam cup while eating fried food is rather sad. In fact his marriage was likely destroyed because of his drinking.
 
onedomino said:
I do not think that Virginia Madsen's nomination for Best Supporting Actress was justified.

However I do think her role and interpretation of it was one of the shining aspects of the movie.
 
Without question he was an alcoholic. He dealt with every problem he encountered with excess drinking.

Yeah. The only thing in the movie that seemed unrealistic was his breakdown in the winery, where he starts drinking out of the big barrel of wine, it didn't seem true to the character for some reason.

One of the final scene of him drinking his one valued wine out of a foam cup while eating fried food is rather sad.

Yeah, it is. I actually thought that was one of the more effective scenes in the movie.
 
onedomino said:
I do not think that Virginia Madsen's nomination for Best Supporting Actress was justified.
I think her nomination was justified more than the movie being nominatted for Best Picture. One word to describe the movie - lousy.
 
Shattered said:
Yipes.. I started to post regarding this movie earlier - I just saw it last night. I gave up because there was nothing good I could say about it..

Pig Vomit should have just taken the money he made from the Howard Stern movie, and ran with it.

I had wanted to see this in the theatre as I had heard all the hype about how great it was, but when I saw the trailer it just looked so stupid!
 
Bonnie said:
I had wanted to see this in the theatre as I had heard all the hype about how great it was, but when I saw the trailer it just looked so stupid!

You forgot "boring". It's one loooooooooooong bathroom break.
 

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