Sideways

My co-blogger once described some of the humour and moments in Sideways as ‘outrageous’ and I’d say his assessment is pretty accurate. For an Oscar winning film that could almost be considered a romantic comedy, Sideways does indeed contain some outrageous moments usually relating to sex and always involving Jack Cole played by Thomas Haden Church who, in my mind, is the thinking man’s Steve Stifler.

The thing is with Sideways is that it essentially moves from sedate and occasionally touching and gentle scenes involving beautiful Californian landscapes and discussions about wine, to moments of extreme jocularity and brilliantly graphic sexual dialogue. This contrast is effective and guarantees laughter.

Such moments and scenes include Miles (Paul Giamatti) walking in on Jack having sex with Sandra Oh in a motel room. In typical Sideways style, the sex seems extreme and almost shocking as Miles’s eyes are soiled by the sight of Jack, who is positioned aggressively atop Sandra Oh. Oh’s legs point to the ceiling and all we hear are Jack’s yells of ‘NOT NOW!’ to Miles.

The recurring theme of Jack and his tireless pursuit to get Miles laid brings about some of the best lines, some of which are in the video below. Jack tells Miles he’s going to get his ‘joint worked on’, that he needs to ‘get his bone smooched’ and poses the question: ‘Don’t you want to feel that little box gripping down on your Johnson?’

Well Miles, don’t you??