FilmStubs: Sideways (2004)

The FilmStubs series is Free and made possible by a grant from Friends of the Library. Stick around for a discussion following the screenings. For more Springfield-Greene County Library events click here.

To accommodate seating capacity, ticket holders must check in no later than 5 minutes past the scheduled showtime. After this time, unclaimed reserved seats will be released to wait listed guests.

The misadventures begin when Miles (Paul Giamatti), an un-recovered divorcé and would-be novelist with a wine fixation, decides to gift old college buddy and washed-up actor Jack (Thomas Haden Church) with a celebratory trip to the vineyards of the Santa Ynez Valley the week before Jack's wedding. The two couldn't be an odder couple. Jack is an over-sexed charmer; Miles is a sad-sack worrier. Jack is looking for his "last taste of freedom"; Miles just wants to taste perfection in a bottle. Jack is fine with cheap Merlot; Miles pines for the elusive, perfect Pinot. Indeed, the only thing they seem to share in common is the same heady mix of failed ambitions and fading youth. And yet, as they make their way up the coast, Miles and Jack soon find themselves drowning in wine and women. Both men careen dangerously and comically toward mid-life crises. Now, the wedding approaches and with it the certainty that Miles and Jack won't make it back to Los Angeles unscathed or unchanged...if they get back there at all. [Searchlight Pictures]

Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Sandra Oh, Virginia Madsen, Phedon Papamichael
Director: Alexander Payne
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance