Sideways rated at 3 1/2 *

[Michael Eisenstadt]

Sideways directed by Alexander Payne who directed About
Schmidt has its charming moments. Paul Giamatti (who played
Harvey Pekar in American Splendor) and his actor buddy, Thomas
Haden Church, take a trip through California wine country. The 
actor buddy is about to be married but as a horn dog type guy he 
gets it on with an attractive Oriental divorcee ultimately with 
devastating results to his face when she learns that he is about to 
be married. He has also taken a fat plain waitress home from the 
restaurant, is discovered by her irate husband in the act and has 
to flee naked into the night. Giamatti who undertakes to infiltrate 
the married waitress' house the next morning to recover his 
buddy's wallet is witness to the husband royally doing his waitress 
wife as he loudly accuses her and she loudly 'fesses up to being a 
lewd hussy. Tres funny.

At the end of the flick the sad-sack Giamatti rehooks up with 
the other wine country girlfriend who has read his unpublishable 
novel and now wants him as a boyfriend. He rejoins her thus 
achieving bliss or at the least the promise of some surcease 
from his chronic depression, this having somehow happened 
Sideways.

Virginia Madsen is winsome as Maya, Giamatti's waitress 
wine-snob girlfriend, Sandra Oh as Stephanie is the horny 
hard-living oriental divorcee whose mother it turns out is a 
frowsy anglo blond taking care of Stephanie's half black child.
Nice touch that in substantiating Stephanie's wild character.