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Brought together by a curious twist of fate on a dusty California road, a wandering vintner and a struggling winemaker find both their lives, and their careers, forever transformed at a blind Parisian wine tasting that introduced the world to the extraordinary wines of Napa Valley.
Bottle Shock is one of those cockle-warming, feel-good underdog films in the tradition of Strictly Ballroom. Only in this case Scott and Fran are, respectively, a Chardonnay with tangerine undertones, and a Cabernet Merlot blend.
It doesn't exactly come off as boxed wine to the top-shelf sensibilities of Sideways, but there's not enough story or heart for it to capture the same lightning in a bottle.
With much loving, longing gazing at the Napa Valley landscape, it's awfully good-looking, if you can discount the high-waisted bell-bottoms and the homely yellow AMC Gremlin that wheezes into scenes every once in a while.
Predictable in its moves, it's engaging enough, though it has nowhere near the characterisation, say, of Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church in Sideways.
The people who made Bottle Shock obviously love their wine. They're not that crazy about the French. And they are firm believers in the screenwriting rule of leaving no underdog-formula cliché unused.
August 22, 2008
Orlando Sentinel
Bottle Shock is... utterly charming.
August 15, 2008
Denver Rocky Mountain News
Unfortunately, Miller can't decide whether he's doing a relationship movie or one about the intrigue of world-class winemaking. Mingling the two left me with a somewhat sour aftertaste.