Movie Make-out

Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman star in Bottle Shock, a indie comedy based on the “Judgment of Paris” tastings that put California wines on “the map,” as it were. Pullman plays “a former real estate attorney (who) sacrificed everything to realize his dream of creating the perfect hand-crafted chardonnay. His business, however, is struggling, and he’s not only trying to overcome differences with his slacker son (Chris Pine — Kirk in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek reboot — in a terrible wig), but is also fighting off the creditors. Meanwhile in Paris, unwitting British wine shop owner Steven Spurrier (Rickman) hopes to revive his own failing business by sponsoring a competition which will pit the traditional French powerhouse against the California upstarts. Little did Steven and Jim realize that they were both on course to change the history of wine forever.”

Rickman is fantastic as always, and although the story looks utterly predictable (it’s pretty much all in the trailer), the tone is breezy and charming, sort of like Sideways meets Little Miss Sunshine. (Although I didn’t really like either of those movies nearly as much as anyone else, so that’s not incredibly high praise.) You can taste Bottle Shock in theaters on August 6. Hopefully you won’t want to spit it out.