Sideways (Widescreen Edition)

Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Paul Giamatti	Miles Raymond
Thomas Haden Church	Jack
Virginia Madsen	Maya
Sandra Oh	Stephanie
Marylouise Burke	Miles' Mother
Jessica Hecht	Victoria
Missy Doty	Cammi
M.C. Gainey	Cammi's Husband
Alysia Reiner	Christine Erganian
Shake Tukhmanyan	Mrs. Erganian (as Shaké Toukhmanian)
Alison Herson	Foxen Winery Pourer
Lacey Rae	Los Olivos Waitress

Director	Alexander Payne
Producer	Michael London
Writer	Alexander Payne; Jim Taylor; Rex Pickett

With Sideways, Paul Giamatti (American Splendor, Storytelling) has become an unlikely but engaging romantic lead. Struggling novelist and wine connoisseur Miles (Giamatti) takes his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church, Wings) on a wine-tasting tour of California vineyards for a kind of extended bachelor party. Almost immediately, Jack's insatiable need to sow some wild oats before his marriage leads them into double-dates with a rambunctious wine pourer (Sandra Oh, Under the Tuscan Sun) and a recently divorced waitress (Virginia Madsen, The Hot Spot)--and Miles discovers a little hope that he hasn't let himself feel in a long time. Sideways is a modest but finely tuned film; with gentle compassion, it explores the failures, struggles, and lowered expectations of mid-life. Giamatti makes regret and self-loathing sympathetic, almost sweet. From the director of Election and About Schmidt. --Bret Fetzer