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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Sideways
Fox Searchlight Pictures


6.1

based on 42 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 460 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for language, some strong sexual content and nudity

Starring Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh, M.C. Gainey, Alysia Reiner, Alex Kalognomos, and Patrick Gallagher

Two old friends setting off on a wine-tasting road trip...only to veer dizzily sideways into a wry, comedic exploration of the crazy vicissitudes of love and friendship, the damnable persistence of loneliness and dreams and the enduring war between Pinot and Cabernet. (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Adventure \| Comedy \| Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Alexander Payne Jim Taylor Rex Pickett (novel)
DIRECTED BY:	Alexander Payne
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: April 5, 2005 Video: April 5, 2005 Theatrical: October 22, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	123 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Nominated for Best Picture at the 77th Annual Academy Awards. It also received Oscar nominations for Adapted Screenplay (which Payne and Taylor won) and Director, and supporting actor nominations for Church and Madsen. Named Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) at the 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Hysterically funny yet melancholy comedy.

100

Newsweek David Ansen

In Sideways, Payne has created four of the most lived-in, indelible characters in recent American movies. This deliciously bittersweet movie makes magic out of the quotidian.

100

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

Sweetest, funniest, most humane movie I've seen all year.

100

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

It's an intoxicating feeling when a movie excites and enlivens us like this -- and there's a particular giddiness to be had in thinking about what movies can (but don't often) do for one's soul after imbibing such a fine vintage.

100

USA Today Mike Clark

This is a building-block movie: Its stand-out excellence becomes apparent only gradually.

100

New York Post Megan Lehmann

A sublime variation on the buddy road movie, infusing the midlife crises of the two main protagonists with hope and poetry.

100

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The best comedy of 2004. In fact, it's so far the best movie of the year.

100

Time Richard Corliss

Sideways is by far the year's best American movie.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A boisterous, brilliant, heart-warming comedy--strikes me as just about perfect.

100

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Exhilarating, edgy and wryly comic.

100

Washington Post Desson Thomson

One of the most pleasurable movies of the year.

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Not a masterpiece, but definitely one of the year's most entertaining movies.

100

Premiere Glenn Kenny

Every performance here is wonderful, and the movie abounds in moments so true as to be cringe-worthy.

100

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Pure movie bliss.

100

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Sideways makes you glad about America, about movies, about life.

100

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Exactly written, directed with a surgeon's precision and transcendently acted, Sideways brings emotional reality to a consistently amusing character comedy, making it something to be cherished like the delicate Santa Ynez Valley wines that are the story's vivid backdrop.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The characters are played not by the first actors you would think of casting, but by actors who will prevent you from ever being able to imagine anyone else in their roles.

100

Washington Post Teresa Wiltz

There's not a false note here, and the entire supporting cast -- is uniformly excellent.

100

Boston Globe Ty Burr

It's a performance (Giamatti's) so nuanced and so real in its everyday pain that it doesn't stand a chance of winning an Oscar. But it should.

100

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Payne's little marvel.

100

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

A film that celebrates the intricacies of life in ways both splendid and mundane, revealing it all with unflinching honesty.

100

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

What makes it the best movie of the year -- is its insight into human behavior.

100

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

U.S. geography doesn't matter to Payne. He always charts the terrain of the human heart, and he's among the wisest of mapmakers.

100

Empire Dan Jolin

Brilliantly observed characters are becoming second nature to Payne and Taylor, and the performances here are uniformly terrific. This is wonderful, original stuff.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Gets under your skin without you quite being able to say when or how. It has the tact to let you draw yourself in to it.

Film Threat Michael Ferraro

Alexander Payne is becoming one of the greatest American directors of modern cinema and again, Sideways is on its way to being one of the best films of the year.

Dallas Observer Melissa Levine

For the most part, Sideways is a great movie--impeccably written, directed and acted--that takes its characters on a journey toward something new.

Variety Todd McCarthy

A beautifully observed, small-scale study of personal foibles, romantic uncertainty and two sides of the sadly predictable male animal.

LA Weekly Kim Morgan

A trenchant American satirist in his previous films, Payne moves in a different direction with Sideways -- one less mordant but just as pointedly observant.

Slate David Edelstein

A warm, ingratiating, and fitfully hilarious epicurean road movie with a steady ache-an ache like a red-wine hangover.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Good comedies are rare, but rarer still are those that conflate laughter with intimacy.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Jack and Miles are male archetypes, as well as the two most fully realized comic creations in recent American movies.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Like the film itself, the performance (Giamatti's) is deeply controlled, played with restraint and with microscopic attention to detail.

The New Yorker David Denby

In this role Giamatti gives his bravest, most generously humane performance yet. Women may be repelled, but men will know this man, because, at one time or another, many of us have been this man.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It's likely that 2004 won't offer a better movie about a mid-life crisis.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Wise, entertaining and often very funny.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Payne's directing is alert, warm, patient. He knows that the surface must keep us interested until we go below it, and his confidence holds us.

TV Guide Ethan Alter

This is easily Payne's funniest film to date, yet the comedy never undercuts the difficult emotions with which the characters are dealing.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

A smart and delightful romantic comedy, yet in the course of creating his new charmer Alexander Payne has sheared off some of the rambunctious edges that made his previous films, About Schmidt, Election, and Citizen Ruth, such marvelous studies in social parody.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

There's fun to be had in watching these losers drift without a compass.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Payne's entertaining but familiar comedy lacks the insolence of his "Election" and the freshness of his work with Kathy Bates in "About Schmidt."

Salon.com Charles Taylor

Alexander Payne's new movie, Sideways, makes you feel like you're trapped at dinner with a wiseass who's trying to convince you what a sensitive guy he is.

The average user rating for this movie is 6.1 (out of 10) based on 460 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Shahpoor I gave it a6:
Expected a bit more out of the movie.. It was also a bit slow.

Brian W gave it a10:
this movie is neither a 10 nor a 0, but I'm giving it a 10 to offset all of you who don't have a clue. It is very entertaining and quite refreshing compared to all the formula crap coming out of Hollywood. All you folks who didn't get it ought to consider staying home to watch something really stimulating, like American Idol.

SImon M gave it an8:
Put it like this - if you are an intelligent, witty and astute person, you will LOVE this. If, however, you are not a very bright person, you will say it's boring and unfunny. Take a look at the negative reviews here and you will notice some terrible spelling, and inarticulate submissions. I think that says it all. For those who didn't enjoy the movie, perhapsMr Bean is more your style??

Mack gave it a4:
Don't critics give points for movies being enjoyable to watch? This one is not particularly funny or interesting. Seems like a real bandwagon movie.

Troy P. gave it a10:
This movie is excellent! An amazing script with great acting. It touches on so many real life issues and does so in such a sutly humorous way. I feel that many people will not understand the greatness of this movie, but it is a masterpiece!!!

Tim A gave it a2:
Firstly for a comedy this is not funny. The acting is wooden and somehow makes you feel rather distant from the film. The whole wine tasting theme through the film is so pretentious and psuedo classy. Avoid

justice now gave it a1:
This is a perfect example of why Critic's reviews are irrelevant to the public. This movie was is pretty much a waste of time. I have found that user reviews and ratings are far more relevant and consistent than those of the Critics. Out of 450 votes this movie's rating is 6.1 out of 10. Though I thought the movie was horrible, a 6.1 gives the public a reasonable idea of what the over all value of the movie is. 94 out of 100 is ridiculous.

Sideways Fox Searchlight Pictures

Sideways
Fox Searchlight Pictures