[This Romantic Comedies in the Time of Social Distance series suggests good rom-coms to watch at home during our current crisis. Some are directly apropos and some will take you away from it all, but none of them suck.]
In the category of rom-coms to Take You Away From All This, it's hard to think of a more enjoyable flight of fantasy (that is, fantasy by our current moment's standards) than Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor's Sideways. It's ostensibly about a hangdog failed novelist who goes searching, along with his philandering bad-actor buddy, for the best Pinot Noirs in the sun-soaked Santa Ynez Valley, but of course what he ends up finding is love and some life-altering epiphanies.
Ah, those were the days, indeed. And from our relatively benign solitary confinement as we pray for the plague to pass over us and for our spirits to rise again, it's such a wistful pleasure to contemplate the beauty of unfettered bounty depicted by this gem of a comedy, that it feels well-nigh illicit. Regardless: Treat yourself to the delights found in hanging out with the movie's memorable quartet of characters - hey, open a bottle of anything but Merlot, while you're at it - and lose yourself in the pithy, pungent dialogue, the great performances by Giametti, Madsen, Church, and Oh, and the kinds of conflicts that may seem quaint in the sober spring of 2020, but are nonetheless just as hilarious, and moving, as ever.
Very smart screenplay that combines comedy of manners, satire and romance, SIDEWAYS is a great humanistic and epicurean road-movie about friendship. Cheers!
Posted by: Stephane Guero | April 30, 2020 at 02:40 AM