Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a sadly mixed look at Alexander (ELECTION) Payne's next film. It seems that Payne has a little work to do, at least in the eyes of this reviewer, but I'm confident he'll pull together a good film. He hasn't failed me yet. ELECTION was awesome and ABOUT SCHMIDT is damn good, if not as rewatchable as ELECTION... but hey, SCHMIDT doesn't have talk about Reese Witherspoon's moist... areas... Ahem... Now for someone whose mind isn't trapped in the gutter!!!
Hi!
I've just returned from a screening this evening for "Sideways", the upcoming Alexander Payne movie.
I want this movie to be great. I love "Election" and really respect "About Schmidt" and have faith that Mr. Payne will know how to clean this up in the next 5 months (it's coming out in Nov 2004, yes?). I am praying that tighter editing (and in some cases, re-editing) will help to crystalize the muddy moments... and right now, there are still a lot of muddy moments. What's hopeful, is that you can see potential pea! king out of certain scenes.
For those who are unfamiliar with this script, the way I would describe the story is (according to what I wrote on my survey): "Miles (Paul Giamatti) takes his college roommate Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) on a last hurrah bachelor ! party wine tasting road trip to the Central Coast of California. Their journey reflects a pathetic and heartbreaking coming of age story about 2 middle-aged men who aren't ready to grow up." (OK, so I refined it for this review, but it's close to what I wrote.) If you want a better explanation, go to a review written last month of an earlier screening. (CLICK HERE FOR THAT ONE
What works:
--The script is well written; it's source material is obviously sound.
--The idea of Pinot Noir and Wine Making being a metaphor for Miles and his life is solid and poignant. (And I love that Jack is more like Cabernet.)
--The metaphors, the locations, their clothes, the car, the hotels, Miles' golf swing, etc., give great layers that mirror who the characters are and where they are in their lives.
--Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen are great! You love them both the moment you see them on the screen.
--It's good to see Thomas Hayden Church acting. I've always felt that he is a great actor with a great range, and yet we rarely see him.
--Paul Giamatti plays a great pathetic sap that covers his insecurities with his expertise in wine.
--The drunken phone call to the ex-wife is outstanding.
--The bartender at restaurant where Maya works is great and very realistic.
--Mr. Payne has really captured the San Diejo, Los Angeles, and Central Coast that I know. And the run-down, touristy towns of Buellton and Solvang are perfect locations for this film. They are wonderful mirrors for the characters.
What almost works:
--There is a moment on a porch where Miles and Maya are talking about why they love wine. This is obviously a moment of clarity for our anti-hero, Miles, but the camera keeps cutting between the separate close-ups of the two characters (Miles and Maya). I found that this ruined what could be a really telling moment. I think that keeping the camera on Miles as Maya tells him why she loves wine would make for a very powerful scene. (You know that scene in "Sleepers" where Jason Patric is telling Robert DeNiro's Priest how they were abused? And you know how the camera just stays on DeNiro the whole time and we just watch him listening and it's so still and! you can't keep your eyes off of him? Now imagine in that scene, they cut between DeNiro and Patric every 2 seconds. It would just diffuse the power of the moment. Am I right? That is what happens on the porch. Alexander, if you fix only one thing, please fix this scene!)
-- I understand that Jack is a charming and funny, but shallow and selfish, and like Miles, pathetic individual. But I never quite believed that Jack liked Miles. And as a result, I never came to like Miles. They were both so too pathetic and unable to help themselves. Instead of caring about them, I wanted to slap them. I wish there was a moment, a private smile, some sort of hint that there is a reason as to why Jack loves his mismatched friend from college. I think if I saw that, I would understand a bit of how Miles could be likable. Right now, you just want to shake him.
--I like the direction the ending is going, but it's too long and the a few of the mini-scenes could be cut out.
--I wanted to see more of the fiancee's father. He has a great small scene at the beginning but then we never see him again.
What doesn't work:
--The opening scene when he moves his car is unnecessary.
--There is a weird "Timecode"-esqe montage at the beginning that doesn't fit the format of the rest of the movie and that doesn't move the plot at all. It's distracting more than anything.
--I understand that the score is temporary, but the moods in the temp scores were tooo, I don't know, drippy and out of tune. Maybe this was by design. to reflect the characters. but it didn't work for me.
--I don't know why it's called "Sideways". I'm not sure if I missed the hint in the movie. or if it never came up. I realize it's based on a book, but, the meaning of the title could be made clearer. (Does it have to do with the direction the golf ball goes when Miles hits it?)
Right now this movie is pretty good. I'm hoping that the next 5 months of fine tuning will make it worthy of being mentioned with his other works.
The Sweeper
