Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) are long standing pals - ever since being frosh roomies in college. Jack, a B-list actor, is seven days away from tying the marriage knot. Miles, a teacher of English to junior high school boys and an unpublished author, is two years post-divorce and in therapy. Something of a wine connoisseur, Miles takes Jack on a week's tour of the vineyards in the vicinity of Santa Barbara, CA. Miles sees the jaunt as a celebration of Jack's imminent nuptials and an opportunity to teach his friend something about fine wine. Jack, a sexual satyr, just wants to bed as many women as possible in one last carnal fling. To that end, Miles is the ultimate wet blanket, and becomes even more morose after he learns from Jack that his ex-wife recently remarried. Despite his friend's resistance, Jack finagles a double date with Stephanie (Sandra Oh), a winery's tasting hostess, and Maya (Virginia Madsen), a waitress at a restaurant that Miles frequents and who, according to Jack's practiced perception, has the hots for the former. Jack's relationship with Stephanie immediately becomes torridly physical, while Miles and Maya, connected by a common interest in superior vintages, keep theirs relatively cerebral. In any case, the two couples, and Jack's playboy shenanigans in particular, launch a series of comic situations that kept me and the rest of the audience laughing out loud.

The scriptwriting behind this gem of an art film is perceptive and clever. Giamatti, Church, Madsen, and Oh are perfect in their respective roles. At one point, Maya delivers a mesmerizing monologue about wine's personal meaning to her that's both sensitive and profound and perhaps the best single piece of dialogue in the movie. The bucolic scenery is gorgeous. And the viewer may pick up a few pointers on wine appreciation.

This is a completely satisfying production to be savored by both sexes. At 55 and deep into my own mid-life crisis, SIDEWAYS was for me a bittersweet commentary on unrealized dreams and ambitions, lost love, the promise and fragility of romantic relationships, and the responsibilities and rewards of simple friendships. I left the theater with a smile on my face and, if you'd looked close enough, perhaps a wistfulness in the eyes from wishing that I was twenty years younger.

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