Revelations of a hedonistic week. Review on Sideways Movie

A fair amount of movies suffer from the ''realisation syndrome'', where the book is far superior to the movie. Alexander Pickett, who wrote the screenplay for the movie and is also its director, seems to be well versed with, but oblivious to the obvious symptoms. He has made a movie, which while being faithful to the book, falls short of what a reader would visualize as a successful adaptation.

==The storyline is basically simple, two friends, one of whom is getting married in a week, wants to have the time of his life, before getting into the marital bond. The movie opens with Miles (played by Paul Giamatti), being ritualistically late for picking up his friend Jack (played by Thomas Haden Church) from Jack's to be in-law's house. Miles is an English teacher and a gourmet of food and wine, working on a book to educate the uninitiated. Jack's a washed-out actor, who's been doing bit roles and has graduated to a gold-digger.

==The week-long bachelor party begins with a stopover at Miles's mother's place, where we are given a first look at the struggles Miles has with his conscience, when he steals money from his mother. A poignant scene, which precedes the subtle quirks of character Miles exhibits throughout the movie.

==The idea of a fun weekend for Jack is so dramatically different from that of Miles, that right off the bat the movie makes us wonder as to how these two guys ever hooked up. The movie in its course reveals the true nature of the relationship between Miles and Jack. What should have been a run-of-the-mill roadtrip movie, with two guys arguing as usual, is compounded by the presence of the two female characters in the movie: Stephanie (played by Sandra Oh) and Maya (played by Virginia Madsen)

==Jack and Stephanie hit it off right away, while Miles struggles to reconcile with the fact that life goes on, even after a divorce. His failings at sustaining a relationship with his ex-wife Victoria, boils over into his relationship with Maya, where he's unable to do or say the right things. He knows he's found the right woman, one who doesn't show him up, shares the same passion(s), but that intrinsic character flaw of his, prevents him from cementing his relationship with Maya.

==In the mix of this social theme is sprinkled information about glorious wines, which while being one of the corner-stones of the book, fails to find its rightful place in the movie. Oenophiles everywhere cringed at the comments on the wine by Miles, while being happy at the famous labels shown during an extended dinner the four characters have. Was the director trying to tell us that all this wine-tasting was just a show that alcoholics put on to get drunk?

==To conclude, ''Sideways'' is a funny in places, tragic in a few and has some glorious shots of California's wine producing region. It falls short of greatness in not exploiting fully, the potential the script had to make it a real contender, especially considering the refreshing take on wine, women and everything in between.

Paul Giamatti & Haden Church have played their parts very well, Virginia Madsen is but a shadow of her glory days and Sandra Oh seems to be more comfortable in her ''Arliss Michaels'' role than in this movie. A fitting movie to go with an evening of Pinot Noir and Gouda cheese.