Director: Alexander Payne
Year Released: 2004
Rating: 3.0
Paul Giamatti takes out TV actor friend and pussyhound Thomas Haden Church to wine country to get pretentious over the best in wine and food, drive around and play golf, but Church is out for one last fling, taking 'very delicate grape' Giamatti, still reeling from his last divorce, by surprise (if they're such good friends, and Church is such a girl addict, I'm not sure why he didn't expect it). Unlike Payne's early films, however, the characters are sad and depressing but real, thanks in part to the key performances by the four key players (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh are their female counterparts) - I didn't walk away from this feeling particularly lively or emotionally stirred (the acting compensates for some dead air time), but it does have this bemused 'life goes on' feel to it that hopes for the best of all possible outcomes. Just as I got used to the minimalist tone of acts one and two, it changes - for the last act - into some very amusing but loutish sight gags that upset the rhythm - the shift isn't terminal, however, since the jokes are devastatingly funny.
