Bottle Shock (2008)

Undescribable Perfection

Expected more

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This movie is based on real life events, credits 4 people for its story, 3 for its actual screenplay and I wouldn't be surprised if dozens of other folks were brought in to give this script an uncredited tweak or two. It is terribly plotted, contains one of the most arbitrary love triangles in cinema history and builds a lot of its conflict on one of its main characters becoming more and more of a bastard as the film goes along, only to turn around and expect the audience to root for that character to succeed. Yet for all that, Bottle Shock validates the shoddy way Hollywood treats screenwriters by proving an appealing cast and a confident director can salvage something watchable from even the worst writing.Inspired by a 1976 wine tasting where French wines were pitted against the unheralded product of the vines from California's Napa Valley, this movie does a nice job introducing a cast of interesting characters. There's Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman), a British oenophile struggling for acceptance from French wine society who comes up with the idea of the blind taste test. Egged on by his American expatriate friend Maurice (Dennis Farina), Spurrier heads to the U.S. to find what he expects to be feeble competition for French vino. There he meets Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman), a driven man who's left behind a successful career to try and make it all on his own as a vintner. Jim's aimless son Bo (Chris Pine) is still clinging to the hippie lifestyle, though he relates to his father in a most un-hippie way as they beat the snot out of each other in a makeshift boxing ring. Jim's right hand man at the winery is Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez), a Mexican-American who was raised among the vines and claims wine as his birthright. They're all joined by Sam (Rachael Taylor), an intern at Jim's winery who jumps from Gustavo's bed to Bo's like a huge wine slut.After introducing those characters, however, Bottle Shock really doesn't have much to do with them. It has the big ending with the taste test in France, but nothing to really get to that ending from the beginning. I'm not sure if the true story simply didn't have enough twists and turns, but this movie kills time by throwing everything it can into the middle of its script like somebody frantically trying to plug a leak in a row boat. The story shifts its focus from one character to another for no particular rhyme or reason, morphs from a fictional drama to a Ken Burns-style hagiography of Napa Valley and back again, spends shockingly little time with the two characters who end up being central to the movie's climax and inexplicably spends a lot of time with a subplot involving Gustavo that's never fully explained and ultimately forgotten about.Bottle Shock has all the classic signs of too many cooks spoiling the broth. Throw in Chris Pine wearing what looks like a leftover Spicoli wig from Fast Times at Ridgemont High and this film probably should have been a disaster. It isn't, though, thanks largely to the committed efforts of its cast and sure hand of its director creating a pleasant experience for the viewer. These actors make you enjoy spending time with them and director Randall Miller manages to keep the muddled story moving forward while filling the screen with gorgeous scenery and doing just enough to convey a legitimate interest in wine and wine culture to the audience.I'd bet that even the people who made Bottle Shock don't fully understand how they took such a flawed script and made something reasonably fun and entertaining out of it. It's the mystery of the collaborative process of filmmaking and it's the reason screenwriters are famously treated so poorly by actors, directors, producers and everybody else in Hollywood. Aspiring writers might do well to avoid this movie for fear of being overcome by frustration and depression, but most others will have a good time watching it.

If you want a good movie about wine watch Mondovino (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0411674/), not this marketing movie.The new generation of Chinese drink wine mix with Coca-cola, so in few years a new "Judgment of CA" will arrive and some Chinese wine tester will test and prefer their wine as it will already be more sugary and mix with coke????? Does that make it a better wine? Do you want to experience coke or the wine that Ceasar was drinking? The effeil tower in Las Vegas is great but is it the samething as being in Paris walking on the ground where all those historical events happened? Do not get trap in all this marketing bullshit that kills quality and savoir faire in the name of sale well and easily, most of the wine today need to be made and sell right away whereas before people took the time to let it grow, get old etc....Wake up, as the expert say test any CA wine with for instance a Bourgogne that is 20 years old and you will see the difference. This is not because burgers is the food the most known in the world (because of Mc Donald's) that a good 'coque au vin' is not better. Nevertheless Mc Donald's is a "Judgement of French food".Once again this movie is just a marketing setup and it works and the CA wine really needs it now that the sales are going down.------- I always thought the "Judgment of Paris" was something more serious but I realize this was mostly a setup to launch the CA wine in the US. This is known nowhere in the WORLD except in our country, and the guy just choose few of his favorite french wine to compare them to some CA wine, is he a Oenologue? Is he a "Maitre du vin"? A cook isn't a wine specialist, he knows wine but he is not a specialist! (by the way there is no wine made in Paris "Judgment of Paris", except few bottles from Montmartre) The judge panel is made of none significant people and this happen in a little farm somewhere in private. Why not making a big deal with big names in a French or international wine contest. Why only the American press was invited?Very disappointed and so setup, nice marketing coup and it works in the US with the complicity of the media. When you go in Napa, the only thing they tell you is they do a better job than the French, when you go in Bordeaux or Alsace or South of France, they do not compare their wine to others, they just love their jobs and want to share their passions. By the way most wine should be accompanied by a certain food recipe, as this is the combination of the food and the wine that make it fabulous.Do not forget that our wines barrels, our vineyard roots, the wine making process come also from France, what else is needed? Land and Sun. Yeah cork come from France, Spain and Portugal. Be careful to plastic cork.Entertaining but disappointing. Now that CA wines are in troubles because of India, Chinese and other poor county wine, we will see what happen to the "new" test.

This charming comedy tells the true story of the Château Montelena winery in 1976 Calistoga, CA and how it helped American (specifically Californian) wine break into the sophisticated wine market previously dominated by France.The financially struggling winery is run by perfectionist Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman), with assistance from Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez, "Six Feet Under"), the son of a Mexican field hand who has aspirations of opening his own winery. Also along for the ride is Jim's hippie son, the long-haired, good-natured Bo (Chris Pine of "Star Trek") who has dropped out of college and is stuck in a stagnant existence. When the film opens young intern Sam (Rachael Taylor) has joined the winery to learn all she can about viniculture.Meanwhile, British wine snob Steven Spurrier (a delightful Alan Rickman) has journeyed from his struggling wine shop in Paris to Napa Valley to see what all the fuss is about regarding California wine. Impressed by the quality of vino across the pond, Spurrier arranges the famous blind taste testing wine competition in Paris. Eliza Dushku ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Bring it On"), plays a local barmaid who helps Bo get Château Montelena's wine into the competition."Bottle Shock" is light and funny, with solid performances from the entire cast and a charming, genuinely interesting true story behind it. An enjoyable rental.

although full of unnecessary fiction. It's very loosely "based on a true story," but it was very nice to see those early days of Napa Valley wineries, when it was a lot less pretentious. Miguel Sandoval's few moments are priceless, although I wonder why his character, Mr. Garcia, has a different name from his son, Gustavo Brambila. Does anyone know if that's common in Mexico or if Gustav will was using his mother's name, or if Mr. Garcia was one of the invented characters? Whatever, he was a treat, as Sandoval always is. The tiny role was a terrible waste of his talents; I hope he enjoyed himself on location :-)