Alexander Payne manages to balance a child-like outlook with the weight-of-the-world weary outlook in this film pairing up Jack, man-child, (Thomas Haden Church) and his best man Miles (Paul Giamatti) on a road trip for Jack's last week as a free man before he gets married.
Jack and Miles are very funny together and know how to push each other's buttons, and share a long history of friendship, which requires both to accept the other's faults, pretty much unconditionally as this yarn is unravelled to many comedic, honest, and true moments.
The film gives the viewers a cursory look into the world of wine-tasting, and all the nuances that go into it. This springboards into using wine as a metaphor for life, a scene that Virginia Madsen nails as Mya when she and Miles discuss how they developed their passion for wine. Sandra Oh is also good as Stephanie, a cool chick that Jack is immediately attracted to, and Jack experiences a whirlwind romance within that week that almost defies belief, but it's so much fun, it's easy to overlook otherwise.
Giamatti is the emotional anchor for the film, and he gives us an all-too-flawed human character who's emotionally adrift, but wants desperately to find solid ground again and set down some roots and be considered someone worthwhile, which gets some play in his quest to become a published author.
A solid film, and one worth looking out for if you're in the mood for strong characterizations and some good comedic bits that buoy the film throughout this particularly life-affirming week between Jack and Miles.
I give it 3.5 stars, or a grade of B+.
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