Review of SIDEWAYS

[JustaFied]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Well, it's odd you pick Short Cuts and Nashville. Do you really want to compare little Sideways with works of such ambition and narrative complexity?

No, probably not. Altman was just the first thing I thought of when I was trying to come up with an American director primarily focused on character-study. Those two Altman films certainly are more ambitious and multi-layered than "Sideways", but at the same time, I don't think it's fair (or accurate) to categorize "Sideways" as a sitcom or to compare it to a fig newton.

[Chris Knipp]

When Rosenbaum compared Sideways to a fig newton he was after all describing its flawless execution. Remember Gorodesh describing how to make a tartine (bread and butter) in the movie Diva? A simple thing done perfectly is often as good as life gets. As for a sitcom, what aspect of American life cannot be filtered through one? Aren't Six Feet Under and The Sopranos basically triumphantly weird and edgy sitcoms, and aren't they better than most movies?

All this comes down to whether it's okay to hold up Sideways as the American movie of the year, without a moment of protest, without looking at anything else. Even if Sideways comes up on critics' lists more often than anything else, there is that lack of enthusiasm, Sideways' low Passiondex™ rating mentioned by arsaib4, whom I'm in agreement with here: it'd warm my heart infinitely more if Eternal Sunshine or Before Sunset got the little statue rather than the clever, adept, but soulless and wan Sideways.

[oscar jubis]

Your post is so perfect I could almost forget you listed Collateral among the best American movies of 2004.

[Chris Knipp]

Not a popular one with the critics, and I know you don't love it. I'm with Manohla Dargis--whose taste in some ways I share.