Sideways

May 17, 2004
Two old friends set out for a weeklong romp through Santa Ynez, Calif., wine country that comically strains their friendship in Pickett's lively debut. Smart, hapless narrator Miles is divorced and broke, and his novel's been rejected all over town. His handsome, "ursine" best friend, Jack, a successful actor, is about to get married, and wants to enjoy a few last days of freedom. Pickett gleefully chronicles their many minor adventures, including the oversexed Jack's attempts at getting laid, a boar-hunting episode and a staged car accident. Add to that massive amounts of wine: oenophile Miles swills rather than sips, and Jack's always been a party guy. While Jack works his charm on the ladies, Miles has his own flirtation with a lovely waitress. Miles can be a delightful narrator, but he's no prince: he's a bore when it comes to wine, for example, and he can get a little pseudophilosophical ("photos mock the present by staring back at us with their immutable luster of our youthful past"). He also thinks nothing of snatching a couple thousand dollars from his alcoholic mother on her birthday. But redemption for all is promised and Pickett takes his readers on a jolly ride. His novel sounds like a perfect buddy flick, and indeed, it will have its chance: Alexander Payne (About Schmidt
; Election
) is directing it for Fox Searchlight. Agents, Dan Strone and Marti Blumenthal at Writers and Artists.

July 11, 2005
Brick does an admirable job of bringing to life the characters of Miles and Jack as they head off for a weeklong junket in California wine country in the face of impending marriage, professional duress and a lot of bottled-up emotions. Given the strong performances of Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church in one of last year's most popular films—and that the audio is packaged to tie in with the movie—it makes sense that Brick's portrayals echo those of the two actors. From Miles's quivering tone of despair to Jack's husky, confident exhortations (and even Miles's famously delivered opinion on the prospect of drinking merlot), there are obvious similarities in approach. But Brick deftly builds on that approach and extends it to the further and different adventures the two men endure in Pickett's novel, including a doomed late-night boar hunt with a feckless and potentially dangerous local. He also nicely handles the budding romance between Miles and a lovely, intelligent waitress named Maya, along with the explosive denouement of Jack's misguided fling with a wine pourer named Tara. It makes for a lively reading of this hearty, well-balanced look at the plight of middle age. Based on the Griffin paperback (Reviews, May 17, 2004).