BOTTLE SHOCK

Directed By Randall Miller

(USA, 2007)

Despite the heavy-handed scripting, cliché bar scenes of boisterous camaraderie, the obligatory familial drama, and, of course, the utterly predictable outcome, Bottle Shock will most likely prove popular with general audiences. This is primarily because the whole point of the movie is to restage the US’s upstaging (trouncing, actually) of the French wine industry and its elites…and who doesn’t like to see the French get their arses handed to them on a platter, or a wine spittoon, as the case may be? Perhaps the most enjoyable thing apart from this is the delightfully snobbish, yet principled, portrayal of a British wine merchant (who organizes the ‘Paris Tastings’ of 1976) by Alan Rickman. The rest of the acting is utterly forgettable.

Set against the backdrop of 1970’s Napa Valley (and a Doobie Bros. lead soundtrack)—where a handful of “amateur” vintners engage in an audacious experiment in French grape viniculture—the story tracks the trials and tribulations of the Barrett family males who are the leaders of this agri-business revolution (the elder Barrett is divorced and is aided by his under-achieving son, Bo). It seems as though almost every scene was shot at one of two times of day; the film is hued throughout with either that amber glow of early morning or its slightly more orange-y late afternoon version. Perhaps such lighting was used to accentuate the sweat-of-thy-brow earthiness and purity of the characters and their lives (“not bad for a bunch of hicks”, says Bill Pullman’s Barrett, after learning of his Chateau de Montelena Chardonnay’s triumph in gay ol’ Paris). To insure that this character trait (like the wine itself) does not go unnoticed, we are given poetically pithy quotes like “Wine is sunlight held together by water.” (Galileo) to drive home the point--forgivable solely because these words are quoted by Mr. Rickman as his character drives through the valley (in a Ford Gremlin, no less) sampling the wines of the local vintners.

The film, despite its triteness, is engaging in that under-dog overcomes tremendous obstacles (and cultural elitism) to prove his comparable, even superior, worth sort of way…So, raise a glass to kicking French ass! How could it not be a crowd pleaser?

M. Ricciardi