Overall good, good plat and tome funny scenes. Kind of slow in places, which is why I am glad I saw it on DVD— fast forward a little here and there. And some of the wine stuff was a little too much. But I did like it enough to recommend it to friends who enjoy this type of film.

This is a movie worth thinking about. Plus this is the first time I’ve ever seen Sandra Oh look beautiful but she sure did. And while the guys are both, well, I hope I wouldn’t want to go out with either one of them EVER, it is nice to have stories not focused on 20 year olds. The epiphany is at the wedding, knowing there is a divorce pending in that one, when the characters get it too. I liked that.

One of my friends really, really liked this movie, but I didn’t. A lot of the book is cut out and so character development is at an exceedingly lower level. There was quite a bit more nudity and sex in it shown than what I thought there would be, so that surprised me a bit. I read the book prior to seeing the movie, and it disappointed me too when my favorite scene was cut out. I say, read the book. It was really good, and while this movie wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen, it disappointed me. They could have done it so much better.

The first time I watched this, I hated it. I couldn’t see what the hype was all about. But I watched it recently and was impressed. Does that make any sense?

Wow, I’m shocked at all the negativity here towards this smashing movie…

I though the characters were acutely observed (and serving both the comedy and the drama, and hard trick to pull off!), and the acting uniformingly brilliant, and the direction pitch-perfect!

But on top of all that, I though it was a believable, touching and, above all, an entertaining experience!

At first I didn’t like this movie. My friend recommended it to my and I thought, why did he like this? Then as I was telling people about the movie I started laughing and rethinking how I felt about it. Since that time I have watched it a few more times. I think it is interesting the relationship between the two friends, one oenophile and the other an “actor” at first you think that Miles is such a loser and then you begin to realize it is Jack that is the big jerk. Being a bit of an oenophile myself, I enjoyed the discussions about wine in this movie.

some movies, for me, require a repeat viewing to determine how much i like them.
well, the first time was in theaters, the second was yesterday.
and well, i hated it the second time. the funny parts werent as funny or exciting, the dramatic parts werent as dramatic. i knew what was goin to happen and it wasnt as big a deal.
and thus, it was sooo boring.

This is one of those movies that people either love or hate. I think the dry humor turns some people off. Also, if you’re a teenager, you’re probably not going to get it. Some people find the subject matter of wine (in any format) pretentious, so it probably lost a few others with the subject matter. I’m not at an age where I am headed toward a mid-life crisis, but there was still a lot to enjoy about the film.
The two characters were roommates in college, and it reminded me of how college is really the only time in your life when you’re thrown in with a mishmesh of people and told you have to live together. Sometimes you stay friends with the most unlikely people, and while they may drive you crazy at times, they add a dimension to your life that you wouldn’t otherwise have.

I’m undecided about this movie. It didn’t live up to all the hype that surrounded it, and I felt sort of disappointed in it, but I began to warm to it halfway through and by the end I was surprised to find that I’d sort of enjoyed it and might even want to watch it again. I didn’t find it particularly interesting or funny overall, and the characters were unlikeable and it was slow, and I’m still not sure if I liked it or not. My boyfriend called it “a boring movie about a has-been actor and a would-be writer driving around drinking wine and trying to screw women”. And I sort of agree with him, and wouldn’t recommend this film to anyone, but yet I sort of think that I liked it. Weird.

Movies are so hard to judge for me. There are lots of movies I like, and some I dislikes, but there are so few that are bad to the point of being unwatchable. This certainly does not fall into that category, but it certainly doesn’t fall into the category of must see again either. So, where does this fall?
On a scale of Ronin to bottle rockets, I give it solid harry potter. Worth watching to know what all the fuss is about, but nothing terribly facinating about it.
AO

It didn’t.

Wow – I hated this movie. The characters were completely anti-simpatico. I couldn’t care less what happened to them or how the movie ended – and I can’t think of a bigger condemnation of a movie than not caring about the characters. I want my 2 hours back.

I have no idea what the hype was all about. I love indie films, but this was aweful.

Now, I really enjoyed this movie in spite(?) of the hype. I don’t tend to pay a whole lot of attention to reviews/hype, so I didn’t have a lot of expectations going in. I thought it was well-acted by everyone, but Sandra Oh knocked my socks off – perhaps because she didn’t need to be as over-the-top as some of the other characters.
Halfway through my boyfriend said, “So, when does something blow up?” – which about sums up how many men will feel about this movie. Hell, I thought it was well worth my NetFlix membership.

Eji, the previous commentator, gets it right on. The porch scene is horrendous. Virginia Madsen can’t act her way out of a paper bag. Paul Giamatti really is good in this movie, and he makes everyone else look that much worse because of it. This was better than a lot of stuff that came out next year, but it was nowhere near as good as people claimed.

Agree with other posters here and elsewhere: a decent film that could never live up to its hype. The wine scene - the one on the porch where Maya and Miles discuss their preferred vintage - is one of the most cringeworthy and contrived in cinema history. Payne, who goes out of his way to bend Hollywood formulas, is at his worst when he slips back into them.

this is one of those films that was hyped beyond the point that it could actually ever live up to my expectations. if i had not heard all the praise that was being heaped onto sideways, i might have enjoyed it more but i heard the praise and was left wanting.

Though they are along time friends, Miles and Jack emboidy two different world-views; one a defeatist-nihilist, the other a hedonistic-Epicurean. In the pursuit of their philosophies to thier logical end, they find their ideas wanting and each are forced, in their own way, to affirm the cetnrality of relationship, mutual care, and love as glimer of hope in the world.

a well written movie about people I couldn’t stand.