Susan Granger’s review of “Bottle Shock” (Freestyle Releasing)
While the world acclaimed Michael Phelps as he won an astounding eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics and gaped in awe when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, one momentous occasion in American history never got the attention it deserved: in 1976, a small American winery won over the French cru in a blind tasting, putting California grapes on the gastronomic map. It became known as the “Judgment of Paris.”
Director Randall Miller (“Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing & Charm School”), who wrote the screenplay with his wife, Jody Savin, and Ross Schwartz, views this occasion from both sides of the Atlantic, lightly fictionalizing it into a caper comedy.
In Paris, a struggling British wine merchant Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) comes up with the idea of pitting pedigreed French wines against those from around the world, cajoling (and bribing) well-known critics to serve as judges. An American expatriate, Maurice Cantavale (Dennis Farina), urges him to consider visiting California’s Napa Valley vineyards.
Meanwhile, at Chateau Montelena, vintner Bill Barrett (Bill Pullman), a lapsed lawyer from San Francisco, is struggling; he has two mortgages and his lazy, long-haired, hippie son Bo (Chris Pine) prefers booty to bottling. Bill’s knowledgeable best friend/employee, Gustavo Brambila (Freddy Rodriguez), is gifted with the grapes but, being Mexican, no one takes his skill seriously. Then there’s the requisite blonde intern (Rachael Taylor) who stirs up jealousy.
Superbly photographed by Michael J. Ozier, it’s an easygoing, crowd-pleasing underdog story assembled on a low-budget and self-distributed by the moviemakers, who add an epilogue explaining that the bottle that beat the French now rests at the Smithsonian Institution.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Bottle Shock” uncorks a smooth 7. It’s the most amusing wine aficionado film since “Sideways.”
