Sideways: Critic Reviews

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.

Alexander Payne's heart-piercing new film about a writer on the verge of disappointment is a reason to maintain hope in the film industry.

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

There's not a false note here, and the entire supporting cast -- Madsen, Oh, Church and Marylouise Burke as Miles's Mother -- is uniformly excellent.

Giamatti is a comedic gem.

I thus heartily recommend the movie to all men between the ages of 30 and 55 -- if they can take it. Sideways offers few consolations besides the bitter, healing laughter of the morning after.

This excellent adventure affords a hilarious and excruciating bout of bachelor bonding.

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

This isn't the sort of road comedy we're used to seeing. Its humor is more likely to provoke smiles and light chuckles than guffaws.

As character study, as exercise in American ambiance or, simply as an entertaining movie, Sideways triumphs.

With each new film, Payne and Taylor plane the edges of their wit. Yet this growing maturity merely buffs their work; it's not dulled one bit.

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

It's clear that the filmmakers -- Alexander Payne, the director and screenwriter, and Jim Taylor, his co-writer -- know what they are up to.

At the end of the movie we feel like seeing it again.

Both charming and sexy, uproariously funny and touchingly human.

If Sideways were a wine, its foretaste would be a flutter of nuttiness, its middle would have spicy nuances, and its aftertaste would be lingering and sweet.

Like a good wine, this movie has clarity, subtlety and a pleasant aftertaste.

Sideways is one of those films that's a bit too good to review: It strikes a unique tone, blends a bit of tall-tale fun with everyday life, and pretty much hits every note in your psyche.

With Sideways, the director of Election and About Schmidt has cobbled together his most mature, complete effort to date, a film that utilizes his off-kilter sense of humor and his ability to construct believable characters.

It could turn out to be the best English-language picture of the year.

Wildly funny and surprisingly edgy.

A wonderful film, so accomplished that it looks effortless.

It's a joy to watch comedy unfold so naturally, the laughs gently teased out from our growing knowledge of the characters, their imperfections, doubts and, yes, emotional pain.

Payne has made a movie for the same sorts of people, one with body and 'nose' and character that movie lovers will savor long after the credits have rolled.

The lack of A-list talent is one of the many subtle charms of Sideways, a movie that finds universal appeal in the various urges and dilemmas of its characters while avoiding most road-movie cliches.