Miles is a 30-something failed writer: embittered, frustrated and emotionally impotent. His one love is wine and though his fondness long ago crossed into alcoholism he is nonetheless a genuine connoisseur. Mile's best friend, Jack, is a hormonal teenager disguised as a man approaching middle age. Together this mismatched pair set off on a road trip through the vineyards of California, a last shout before Jack's financially advantageous marriage. Two unlikable, stunted characters and a lot of analogies that use the myriad qualities of a grape to express the complicated nature of human emotions should not necessarily a work of cinematic genius make….but damn, Sideways excels. Rich in character, pathos and humour, Rich Pickett's novel could not have had a more sensitive adaptation; and Paul Giamatti... nobody does anguished, self obsessed losers with more heart and humour.