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The road trip movie is a venerable institution. Though it has become the domain of teen comedies in recent years, it has also been the setting for more adult fare, both comedies (the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby films) and dramas (Thelma & Louise, The Straight Story). Its basic premise is always the same--you can better reveal a person's true character if you take him out of his natural environment. Sideways, a new movie starring Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, accomplishes this and much more.

Miles (Giamatti) and Jack (Church) are old college buddies. Though their lives have taken different paths since those days--Miles is a failed writer, Jack is a reasonably successful Hollywood actor--they've remained friends. And now that Jack is finally ready to settle down and get married, they've decided to celebrate with one last road trip. But their ideas of a perfect week on the open highway are vastly different. Miles imagines a tour through the California wine country with interruptions of golf. Jack plans on getting laid. As often as possible. Yes, Jack is the one getting hitched, which is his motivation for one last week of hedonism. But Miles, who is recently divorced, isn't ready to step back into the dating game.

If our two heroes were in their 20s instead of their 40s, the ensuing hijinks would be filled with missed opportunities and clumsy sex, accompanied by a rock-n-roll soundtrack. Now they're filled with missed opportunities, clumsy sex, and discourses on the meaning of life. These discussions often revolve around wine. Miles fancies himself a connoisseur. Jack would have trouble telling the difference between a cabernet and a bottle of Guinness, but he humors Miles and uses their winery stops as a chance to get drunk and flirt with the sexy wine pourers. One of those flirtations leads to a double date with Stephanie (Sandra Oh) and Maya (Virginia Madsen). Stephanie is happy to indulge Jack's fantasies, while Maya and Miles are kindred souls. They have to talk things out before there'll be any bedroom action.

Lest you think that this is a maudlin middle-aged drama, I need to point out that Sideways is hilarious. Set pieces like a golf course confrontation and a first meeting with Jack's fiancee are priceless, filled with more laughs than in any other comedy this year. But even better are the moments of recognition, where we see ourselves in a particular character and then chuckle at our own foibles.

Director Alexander Payne (About Schmidt) has a wonderful eye for detail. Our first glimpses of Miles are wonderfully evocative. He stumbles out of bed while cursing the knock on his door, he lies on the phone that he's about to leave when he hasn't even taken a shower, he orders a spinach croissant and New York Times at the local coffee shop, and he does the crossword while he's driving out of San Diego. Later on, he and Jack stop off at his mother's for her birthday, and he's still signing the card as he walks up to the door. And before his double date, Miles pompously declares, "If she orders merlot, I am [bleeping] leaving."

It helps that Paul Giamatti is not only a great actor but perfect for this role. If you saw his fantastic performance in American Splendor, you can easily imagine him as a middle-aged man struggling with the fact that his best years are behind him and those years weren't even that good. His reaction shots are filled with pitch-perfect irritation and surprise. Thomas Haden Church is better known for his television work ("Wings," in particular), but he provides a nice foil. His character is clearly superficial, but he's also a nice guy, someone that you could see yourself taking a road trip with. Sandra Oh doesn't have a lot to do besides play the sexy Asian, but Virginia Madsen takes her meaty role and does something marvelous with it. One late-night conversation on wine turns into a beautiful meditation on growing old.

Growing old (or refusing to grow up) is a classic road trip theme. Characters hit the highway for what they think is a way to escape, but they inevitably find only themselves. Sideways wimps out at the very end with a happy-ending coda, but its moments of self-revelation more than make up for any flaw.

J. Robert Parks  11/4/2004