The purpose of the trip is to celebrate Jack’s last week of bachelorhood as he is getting married at the end of the week. This movie seems to follow the ups and downs of the protagonists and contains various romantic adventures that contain some comedic relief. This seems to be a sad excuse for a film that is trying to entertain the audience with its comedy but provides great drama and symbolism through its aspect of a journey within a Journey. We hate the two main characters from the start. Miles wakes up with a hangover because he came home late last night from a wine tasting.
Outside his souse, his car is parked extremely close to the car in front of him; it is almost touching the bumper, which means that he might have driven under the influence the night before. The audience immediately disapproves of Mile’s choices, and we start to develop negative feelings towards him. As he wakes up, he realizes he is late for something. When he gets a phone call from his friend, Jack, he lies to him, telling him that he is already on the road. When he finally gets on the road, he is doing a crossword puzzle as he drives.
Right from the beginning, the audience only sees the negative qualities of Miles and we aren’t ere fond of him. As Miles arrives at Jack’s house, Jack is sitting with his future in-laws. Jack is irritated at the fact that Miles arrived late. Miles makes up a lie to explain why he was late, and Jack immediately knows he is lying but does nothing about it. Jack is in a hurry to leave; this shows that Jack does not enjoy spending time with his family. As Miles and Jack go on the road, additional negative qualities are shown.
Jack, despite Mile’s strong objections, opens a bottle of champagne while Miles is driving and pours a glass for each of them. Even though Miles objects to peeing the bottle, he is not hesitant to accept the glass of champagne as he starts drinking it while driving. The film does a tremendous job of making us hate the two main actors. Furthermore, during the trip they make a detour to Mile’s mom’s house since it is her birthday. Instead of being there to wish her happy birthday, Miles was actually there to steal money from his mom in order to pay for their trip.
As the movie progresses, we learn that Jack is a womanlier. His actual purpose in going on this trip is to have meaningless sex one last time before getting married. This intro to the film does a great job of having the audience loathe the two main characters. Miles and Jack are two very different people. This is first seen in their wine tasting. Miles is very passionate about wine. He is a connoisseur of wine and intricately judges every bottle. He is meticulous and very knowledgeable about different types of wine. This illustrates Mile’s complexity.
Jack is the complete opposite. He joins the wine tasting but does not seem to care for it. He thinks that all of the wines taste alike and isn’t as descriptive as Miles. This shows that Jack is a very simple person. Several repeated scenes show Miles taking a small sip and carefully analyzing each wine while Jack swallows the wine in one gulp and says they are all good. The difference in their wine tasting is also reflected on their taste in women. Jack will pursue any type of women, old, young, tall, short, fat, or skinny, while Miles looks for something more.
This is seen in various scenes where Jack flirts with waitresses that are young, almost half his age, and fat. Actually, he flirts with almost all the waitresses that he meets. Furthermore on the wine, it seems that there is a bottle that represents each of the characters ND their personality. Miles is represented by the Pinot Noir. The characteristics of the Pinot Noir seem to serve as a metaphor for Miles himself. Miles says, “ Pinot is a very thin-skinned grape. It doesn’t like constant heat or humidity, very delicate. ” This shows Mile’s unstable state of mind.
Miles further describes the Pinot Noir to Maya on Stephanie porch. There he reveals that the Cabernet Sauvignon represents Jack. He says that the Pinot Noir is not a survivor like the Cabernet Sauvignon, which can grow maneuvered even when it is neglected; The Pinot Noir needs constant care and attention. This further contrasts Miles and Jack. Jack is someone who can change and adapt to different situations, as seen through out his life. Jack started out as an actor and when that ended he began to do voice-overseer. Now he is willing to learn his father-in-laws business.
He is the survivor that the Cabernet Sauvignon symbolizes. Maya seems to be the 1961 Coeval Bland, which is Mile’s most prized possession and is still not opened. The Coeval Bland is very rare and a special wine to Miles. Miles has yet to open the bottle, which represent how he still hasn’t made a move on Maya. Lastly, Stephanie is the Cabernet Franc. Miles describes the wine as hollow, flabby, and over ripe, which corresponds to Stephanie. Stephanie is not stupid but she is very shallow, which makes her perfect for Jack while Maya is meant for Miles.
To sum up Miles is the Pinot Noir, complex and emotional but still capable. Jack is the Cabernet Sauvignon, plain and simple. Stephanie is the Cabernet Franc, amusing but shallow and nothing extraordinary. And, Maya is the Coeval Bland, rare and special. Wine is also a symbol of pairing. Miles and Maya seem to develop a connection through their love for wine. Wine also symbolizes intelligence. Miles, who has a vast knowledge of wine, is a book writer whereas Jack, who knows nothing about wine, is a washed-up actor. Furthermore, Maya, who is also a wine connoisseur, is studying to get her masters in horticulture.
There is also a difference between Miles and Maya. While they are both intelligent people, they vary in their reactions to changes in their lives. Both went through a divorce. Mama’s husband lied to her and Mile’s wife lost interest in him. Although both endured the same tragedy, Maya did not let it bring her down. She moved on with her life and became an independent woman. She even went back to school to get her masters degree. On the other hand, Mile’s reaction was the complete opposite; he spiraled downhill and fell into severe depression.
A film that represents a week-long bachelor party shows Mile’s use of wine for suppressing his depression and Jack’s hunt for one last time of casual meaningless sex becoming a complete mess as the week progresses. Contrasts between Jack and Miles compliment each other’s characters and livens the plot by having two different viewpoints. This film is not particularly a buddy film because as the movie progresses, Jack goes out to do things with a female amnion that he finds on the trip, Stephanie, and Miles, for most part of the trip, sulks in the hotel room.
Mile’s severe depression plays a great role in how his behavioral characteristics completely contrast with that of Jack, who is a charming extrovert. Although most scenes in the movie have a greater meaning to some extent, there are still some scenes that render to be useless. There are two in particular that come to mind. The first one is when Miles returns to his hotel room and finds Jack and Stephanie having sex. This scene does not add any additional detail to the plot because the audience is already aware of Jack and Stephanie sexual relationship from their scene together in Stephanie house.
Another pointless scene that does not play a role in the film is when Miles has to retrieve Jacks forgotten wallet from the second waitress’s house because it contained the wedding rings. He again finds the waitress and her husband having sex. This scene seems to be placed in the movie just to make Miles feel uncomfortable while he crawls to jacket’s wallet. Even though it adds a comedic effect to the movie it does not drive the plot whatsoever and is not needed. To label this as a comedy is a stretch. There were very few comedic scenes.
The funniest scene, in my opinion, is when Jack and Miles stage a car accident. Jack puts a cinder block on the accelerator pedal while the car is in neutral. The car was supposed to hit the tree but instead it diverts from its path, obviously with no driver, and ends up in a ditch. This shows Jack’s stupidity and Mile’s frustration with him, yet Miles still tolerates Jack because Miles has few friends in his life. This film barely entertains the audience with its mishaps of the events that occur during this eek-long trip.
There seems to be little to no humor in the scenes and the plot is more focused on drama than comedy. Although I would not recommend going to see this movie to have a good laugh, I would recommend going in order to witness the intense drama and symbolism that is represented throughout the movie. At the end we see that Miles is trying to battle his depression as he goes to Mama’s house. The movie ends up almost at the same place as where it started, Miles is still trying to overcome his depression and Jack is still a womanlier, thus the title Sideways.
