Sideways Movie

Sideways
Rating:
Run Time: 126 min
MPAA Rating: R
Released: 2004
Directors: Alexander Payne
Genre/Type: Comedy Drama
Buddy Film
Road Movie
Producers: Michael London
Plot Synopsis by Tracie Cooper
Directed by Alexander Payne, Sideways follows Miles (Paul Giamatti), who is distressed about his lack of success as a novelist, and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), an equally unsuccessful actor with a rapidly approaching wedding. In a last-ditch effort to sow their wild oats, Jack and Miles take off on a final road trip to California's wine country the week prior to Jack's wedding. Both men have goals for the vacation -- Miles wants to turn Jack on to the art of wine tasting, while Jack is concerned with exploiting his last days as a bachelor -- but when the two men come across two fascinating women (Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh), the duo is forced to examine their morality, and if maturity isn't such a depressing prospect -- at least, for one of them.

Back to the top Images of Sideways

Popular Products on Sideways

Videos of Sideways

Back to the top Top Questions about Sideways

Paul Giamatti,Thomas Haden Church , Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh, all starred in the 2004 movie "Sideways".
Because that's the only way they can. Crab leg joints have very little movement from side to side, but more in an up and down direction, similar to if you place your hand palm down on a table and move your fingers. You can move them much mo...
many scientists believe that uranus is sideways, because in the early solar system years another big object floating around space crashed into uranus making it turn sideways
1 2 »

Cast

Actors Character Born
Paul Giamatti Miles Raymond Jun 6, 1967 in New York
Thomas Haden Church Jack Lapate Jun 17, 1961 in El Paso, TX
Virginia Madsen Maya Sep 11, 1963 in Winnetka, IL
Sandra Oh Stephanie
Marylouise Burke Miles' Mother
Jessica Hecht Victoria Jun 28, 1965
Missy Doty Cammi
M.C. Gainey Cammi's Husband
Chris Burroughs Chris At Sanford
Daniel Rogers Reciting Eighth Grader
Gohar Toranyan Wedding Organist
Robert Trow Obnoxious Golfer
Toni Howard Evelyn Berman-silverman
Duke Moosekian Erganian, Mike
Robert Covarrubias Mile's Building Manager
Alison Herson Foxen Winery Pourer
1 2 »

Back to the topReview

Review by Josh Ralske
When it comes to playing a schlub, Paul Giamatti has no peer. His ascension to the status of lead actor is a godsend for lovers of cinema, and it's hard to overstate his accomplishment in following up his wonderfully nuanced performance as crank Harvey Pekar in American Splendor with his heartbreakingly rich lead performance as Miles Raymond in Sideways. Other actors excel at playing sad sack characters, but few are as adept as Giamatti at precisely dramatizing self-inflicted misery. Sideways, Alexander Payne's fourth feature, is a funny, engaging, and thoughtful film with many virtues, but it's hard to imagine that anyone else could have brought Miles to life with such vibrancy. He's the most self-aware of Payne's pathetic antiheroes, and as a result, Sideways is Payne's most humane and hopeful film. It's as acerbically funny as Election but with a soulful humanity best expressed in a phenomenal scene in which Miles and Maya (played with warmth and sharp intelligence by Virginia Madsen) take turns explaining why they love wine. It's a simple scene rendered transcendent by gorgeously believable dialogue and the conviction of two superb actors playing at their best. The fragile bond between Miles and Maya is the soul of the film, grounding the more outrageous antics of Jack (Thomas Haden Church) and Stephanie (Sandra Oh), which are played with equally revelatory expertise. Sideways is a small buddy movie but wonderfully detailed. It's captivating enough to win converts to the grape and conveys a wealth of lived knowledge about male bonding and its discontents.
Table of Contents
Plot
Images
Products
Videos
Top Questions
Cast
Review