Film

The French had monopolized the fine-wine market for centuries when, in 1976, an English vino seller named Steven Spurrier organized a blind taste test to promote his business. Spurrier (Rickman) traveled to California’s Napa Valley, a region that produced grade-A grapes but whose growers were viewed as a bunch of hippies and hicks. He was particularly taken with a chardonnay produced by Chateau Montelena, a vineyard owned by Jim Barrett (Pullman). A pugnacious perfectionist, Barrett was running his business into the ground yet refused to participate in the competition; his shaggy peacenik son, Bo (Pine), defied Pop’s marching orders and slipped the Brit a few bottles on the sly. The rest, of course, is history: Montelena emerged as the victor in the infamous “Judgment of Paris” event, and California wines secured their place in oenophiles’ cellars.

Europe versus America, sophisticated culture versus the salt of the earth, snobs versus slobs: There’s a rich narrative to be mined from this historical moment. Until that movie gets made, however, we’ve got Randall Miller’s pandering take, which undermines the story’s catalytic resonance with its clumsy handling of generation-gap grousing and a romantic subplot. Those who found Sideways too complex may drink Bottle Shock up, but everyone else will find the film too bland for their tastes.