Film review: Bottle Shock

Tagline

Based on a true story of love, victory and fermentation

plot

The story centers on the famous blind tasting competition between French and American wines in the mid seventies. Wine connoisseur and struggling business owner Steven Spurrier (played by Alan Rickman), an ex-pat Englishman living in France, sets out on a journey to broaden his palate, and introduce the insular French wine industry to the much maligned American varieties by setting up the ‘Judgment of Paris’.

Spurrier travels to the Napa Valley, and through a chance encounter (and a broken down car) is quickly introduced to the Barrett clan; a dysfunctional father and son team of winemakers (played by Bill Pullman and Chris Pine respectively) who run the struggling Chateau Montelena vineyard, along with passionate assistant Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez) and intern Sam (Rachael Taylor).

Aside from the Judgement of Paris, and the struggles both to get the wine up to standard and to get the wine to France, the heart of the story follows slacker Bo’s (Pine) relationship with his hard-headed father, Jim (Pullman), and an emerging love triangle forming between Bo, Sam and Gustavo.

Acting

This is a classic feel good underdog story; the Rocky of wine movies, if you will. The writing is fairly simple. There are no surprises - even without the foregone conclusion, the character arcs are easy to predict; however, that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable to watch unfold.

There’s not a great deal of plot, but the characters are more than sufficient to keep your rear end in your seat for the duration. This can mostly be attributed to the wonderful cast. Rickman lends Spurrier his definitive brand of gravitas, injecting the snobbish Brit with a dose of wry humour. Pullman adds empathy to a character that can come off as hard at times. Taylor, Rodriguez and Eliza Dushku all provide warm, well fleshed out support.

The heart of the movie though, is Bo Barrett, and Chris Pine pulled off what could very easily have been a one note character (a typical dippy slacker with a heart of gold) with what I am coming to see as his trademark, inordinate charm. From seeing him in other roles, I think he has enormous potential, and I would have liked to see him able to show a little more range in this movie. With this cast, this movie could have shone had it had better writers.

Another unsung star of the movie was the location. The cinematography is above par, displaying the beauty of the Napa Valley to great effect. The villain is whoever decided to attach the world’s worst wig to Chris Pine’s head. Words cannot accurately describe just how hideous and distracting it was, which was a shame considering all the obvious hard work that went into the production of the ‘70’s set and costuming.

Verdict: All in all, this was a very enjoyable, if predictable movie, with stunning cinematography, very good acting and a satisfyingly feel good ending. A damn sight better than the insufferable Sideways.

Amanda [guest reviewer]