Sideways

Released: 2004
Comedy, Drama
Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen
Running Time: 126 minutes
Rated: R

The breakdown: Two friends go on a trip to the California wine country for a week before one of the men gets married the following Saturday.  Based on a novel by the same name.

So this is a character study movie.  One man is an aspiring writer who is an English teacher Monday-Friday. He's responsible, a little up-tight, emotional, and caring.
The other is an actor who is immature and irresponsible and just wants to get laid one more time, or two, before he gets married at the end of the week.
The two disembark on an adventure up north to the wine country of California.  You can certainly feel the dread coming off both of these characters.
They talk about their lives and relationships and somehow at the end of the week, they are still friends, even though the irresponsible one has repeatedly messed up and left his friend in the dust for a woman who he thinks he's in love with.

I don't know, this was a solid movie, but it just didn't do it for me.  Ended up being just okay for me.
3 out of 5 for solid acting and script, but something about it just wasn't spectacular for me.