Sideways

In general, I believe that a book is a book, a movie is a movie.  They should each be examined on their own as individual works. There are things that one can do in each medium that cannot be done in the other.  

However, I cannot review this DVD without first reviewing the book.

The book was marvelous.  The story centers around two friends, Miles and Jack.  Jack is getting married in a week, and the two friends decide to take a week long trip into the Santa Ynez wine country to cut loose one last time.  However, they both have different agendas.  Jack is determined to get laid one last time before getting married.  Miles wants to bond with his friend and share his passion for wine with Jack.

The book is very linear in it's chronology.  There are no flashbacks.  All of the past details that flesh out the story are brought out through dialogue. Over the course of the week they meet Maya, a waitress at Miles' favorite restaurant. They meet her friend Stephanie who becomes involved with Jack.  The conflicts arise out of Jack's refusal to be honest with Stephanie, who believes that Jack has fallen in love with her and Miles' discovery that Jack has been paying Maya to be with him for the week.

Jack is not a conniving person at heart, he simply lives in the moment with little or no thought for the future.  And he really does believe he has Miles' best interest at heart. 

The book moves along at a brisk pace and is laugh out loud funny in several places, especially the scene where Miles goes wild boar hunting with a local that he's met in the bar. All of the conflict are resolved at the end with several--well deserved-- trips to the ER for Jack, and Miles coming to accept that he's not a failure at life.  The characters are likeable even though their behavior is at time reprehensible.  The flaws are what make them real.  

~Easy says: Check it out!! 

After reading the book, the movie was a major disappointment.  As a movie, perhaps it was good.  But they screwed with the story and characters so much that I was distracted the entire time.  

The major changes were in Stephanie.  First of all, Stephanie is supposed to be hot.  She's so good looking that Jack completely loses all sense of control.  Sandra Oh is no where near to being hot.  She is quite possibly the homliest asian actress out there working.  That's not just my opinion, the wife shares it.

Second of all, they gave Stephanie a daughter.  In the book, Jack's having fun with a single party girl.  In the movie, he's leading on a single mom and inserting himself into the life of a child.  That makes him a scumbag, and a thoroughly worthless human being.

The storyline involving Miles and Maya was altered to the point where Miles came across as a stumbling, pathetic alcoholic rather than a slightly confused lost soul.  The plot  point where Miles reveals to Maya that Jack is getting married next weekend is altered to a slip of the tongue by Miles, rather than revenge for finding out that Jack paid Maya to be with him.

~Easy says: Go ahead and get it if you haven't read the book 

 ***WARNING: Spoilers ahead*** 

The truly sad thing is that I think that the book could have been adapted better without the major alterations.  

• In the book, the Pinot Noir grape is an allegory for Miles, and his life.  All of this subtlety is gone from the movie.
• The fact that Miles has a job in the movie makes his theft of money from his mom reprehensible as opposed to the book where it's just another way that Miles is drifting through life.
• In the movie, Jack's fiance doesn't reveal that she was fucking her brains out that week as well.  She KNEW that Jack was going to tomcat around that week and didn't care.
• In the movie, we never see whether or not Miles and Maya get back together.  The movie ends with Mile going to knock on Maya's door. In the book she accompanies Miles to the wedding and they have a wonderful time.

All in all, the movie was too watered down and did not do justice to a wonderful novel.

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