FILM SCREENINGS

Sideways

2004. USA. Directed by Alexander Payne. Screenplay by Payne, Jim Taylor. With Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh. “Sideways may look like a standard midlife crisis, buddies-on-the-road movie, but don’t be fooled. It’s remarkably sweet and funny and sad. At a time when most Hollywood comedies are little more than gagfests peopled by joke-bots, its humanity should be doubly prized—even if, unlike Giamatti’s wine connoisseur, you like Merlot” (Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor). New York Film Critics Circle Best Picture, 2004. 126 min.