Definitely worth your time – especially if you see yourself as a wine fan. This fun and light-hearted movie recounts a famous 1976 blind tasting of wines from California vs. France. It is very interesting to see one take on Napa Valley’s history as well as a taste of the personalities that made it all happen. In the end, the story itself is what carries this movie, because although it is very entertaining, the acting and script leave you just a tad wanting.
Chris Pine (Bo) and Bill Pullman (Bo’s dad) are the main characters in this film, and they do a decent job indeed. However, the gold-star goes to Alan Rickman as the British tasting organizer who did a great job at portraying the aging wine-snob who experiences a breakthrough. Rachel Taylor is cute as “Samâ€, but the romance back-story is so contrived, that you can’t take her seriously.
As mentioned, the story carries the movie, and fortunately it is interesting enough to get you through the contrived script. Definitely loved the 70’s setting – there was a great deal of attention given to the sound track and wardrobe of the period – both of which were well done. Heck, they even found 70’s era Miller bottles for a bar scene.
Regarding BrianSez’s Review
Miller in a wine movie? It may be the “Champagne of Beer” but still… ;-)