Sideways (DVD)

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What's more, I didn't think Jack's encounter with a waitress and her truck-driver husband later in the story added much, apart from a few cheap laughs. After having talked to several people who had also seen the film, I found their reactions were to bring up this segment as one of the highlights of the movie for them, so I can see why it was included. The sequence is funny, and in its way harrowing. But it seemed to me a needless diversion that distracted from the film's otherwise keen sense of realism and wit.

Finally, and on an admittedly trifling note, when I initially saw the movie it was under the impression that its wine country setting was going to be California's well-known Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino valleys just north of the San Francisco Bay Area. Imagine my surprise (and disappointment) when the setting turned out to be the Santa Barbara wine-growing area of Southern California. I mean, having been born and raised in the Bay Area and taking the Napa Valley for granted as the preeminent wine-growing area of the entire country, I didn't even realize there was another wine area of note in the state. (I'll be hearing from the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce. No, really, it's a beautiful area, and I'm sure they grow wonderful grapes.) But I wondered why a reputed wine authority like Miles, if he actually did value the grape as much as he proclaims, wouldn't have taken his buddy farther north to the more prestigious wine country of Northern California. After all, the fellows did have a whole week to spend together, and it would have only been a few additional hours' drive. Maybe their Southern California odyssey was meant to demonstrate that Miles was not as cultured or enlightened as he made himself out to be; or maybe Miles wanted to get off the beaten path; or maybe the filmmakers just wanted to incur the least amount of expense while shooting on location, and Santa Barbara was closer. Who knows.

"Sideways" was nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Picture (Michael London); Best Director (Alexander Payne); Best Supporting Actor (Thomas Haden Church); Best Supporting Actress (Virginia Madsen); and Best Writing (Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor). It won the Oscar for Best Writing. In addition, the movie won Golden Globes for Best Picture, Musical or Comedy, and Best Screenplay; as well as a slew of others from BAFTA, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Directors Guild of America, the National Board of Review, the Independent Spirit Awards, and so on. It's rated R for profanity, brief nudity, and sexual situations.

Video:
The video quality is mediocre at best. Even though the picture was transferred to disc in a widescreen anamorphic ratio that closely approximates its theatrical exhibition size (about 1.75:1 across my standard-screen Sony HD television), the bit rate used is rather ordinary and it shows. The image is slightly soft and blurred, with instances of shimmering lines and a degree of grain in duskier areas of the screen. Colors are bright enough, but facial tones are usually too dark for absolute fidelity.

Audio:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound does a nice job in the midrange, with a natural tonal balance and dead-quiet backgrounds. There is very little information communicated to the rear channels, though, barring some minor musical ambiance enhancement, and there is a somewhat limited front-channel stereo spread. The movie is all dialogue, so it doesn't matter.

Extras:
There is the usual collection of bonus items on the disc. An audio commentary with actors Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church is jokey and friendly, the men laughing a lot at each other's comments as they reminisce about the filming. Seven deleted scenes come next, with text notes from the director. They last about seventeen minutes in all. A behind-the-scenes featurette contains comments from many of the cast and crew, but it only lasts about six minutes so there are few real insights in it. Lastly, there are thirty-two scene selections; a widescreen theatrical trailer; English, French, and Spanish spoken languages; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

The back of the keep case lists the extras I mentioned above and then adds the word "more." I assume the "more" refers to Easter eggs on the disc, since there are no more items on the menu than the ones I listed. Besides, Fox's press site says there are three Easter eggs, even if it doesn't explain where they are. By now I'm sure a few readers will have written in to reveal where to find these eggs, but I didn't have the time to deal with them myself. Indeed, the more I think about the subject, the more annoying I find it for a studio to hide any of its bonus materials, even trivial ones, as Easter eggs. My colleague, Tim Raynor, tells me the studios want to make the DVD more fun by making a game out of it, to which I say, "Phooey!" I think that by not putting everything up front, the studios are in effect cheating a large percentage of DVD buyers out of what they paid good money for (because not everybody wants to play games); and these eggs are especially hard on DVD renters (more people rent than buy DVDs), who most often have literally no time to be scouring a disc for hidden extras, even if they know there are supposed to be eggs on the disc in the first place! Another of my colleagues, Chris Long, expressed a somewhat similar negative opinion about Easter eggs in his review of "Incident at Loch Ness," and I agree with him completely.

Moreover, the single disc comes housed in a keep case, which is further enclosed in a fancy, glossy slipcover. But Fox decided not to include an informational booklet or chapter insert, presumably as a matter of expense. I dunno. End of rant.

Parting Thoughts:
The movie that "Sideways" most reminded me of from 2004 was "Before Sunset," the small-budget independent follow-up film from Richard Linklater, starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. Both films are bright, intelligent, and charming little character studies, set in beautiful environs. Although I liked them both, I thought "Before Sunset" was the more realistic, the more witty, the more insightful, and the more charismatic. But it was "Sideways" that won all the adulation and awards. Fair enough.

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