Lachlan Coulson
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Deanna
There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
Guillelmina
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
ms_jade_li
Bottle Shock is, on the surface, about a blind wine-tasting competition, held in France, where California and French nectared offerings of the vine are vying for top marks from le creme de la crop of French wine aficionados. What captivated however is the intoxicating depth of the connections between the players and what motivates each of them. There's the connection between the non-French businessmen in France. There's the connection between father and son. Between the vintners in CA who are tired of being red-headed stepchildren in the world of wine, like the rest of the world, in comparison with French wine. Between Mexican vintner whose love of the art is ancestral and imbibed with passion and the rich man who is playing at it -- albeit playing hard. Between the non-committed but committed intern and the heads she turns. Motivations traverse the gamut, from purely business to a search for significance. There's a dry humour throughout and a collective heart that squeezes tears. The competition is based on a true story, which adds depth upon depth.
ghostbackup
An outstanding film, that I too thought would be no good, given I had not even heard of it. However I like Alan Rickman, and came across this title on Netflix. This film should have taken in millions but opened on only 48 screens. Someone obviously judged it a dud and did not effectively promote it.I was shocked at how great a film it is. I cheered for the home team and learned a little more about wine growing, and while I've seen many 'we're about to lose the farm' movies, I found myself absorbed in the movie enough that the much-used scenario did not come to mind.Other reviewers bagging on 'wig' and 'bad acting' must be teenagers or on crack. I've seen hundreds of movies, and grew up on the 70's. If you weren't there, then you cannot appreciate the look. Chris Pine fit the mold.The acting was first rate, and Chris Pine is right at home as a 70's youngster. In fact, ALL the acting in this movie is perfectly fine. The script is great, except for the predictable exceptions such as the hitching a ride scene (girl flashes, guy fails).Love the cinematography, the vineyards and region. This film deserves so much more attention and recognition than it apparently received.
Jonathon Dabell
Director Randall Miller reunites a number of actors from his previous film, Nobel Son (2007), for this gentle and rather likable fact-based story set in the wine industry of the 1970s. Bottle Shock is basically an underdog story, capturing the moment in time when the worldwide supremacy of French wine was challenged and finally equalled by wine produced in another country. The film is a character-driven piece told through a series of vignettes – whether or not it is 100% true is debatable, but it makes for pleasant enough viewing.Sommelier Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) runs a declining wine shop in Paris. He is absolutely convinced that French wine is the greatest that has ever been produced, but his drinking buddy and lifelong wine connoisseur Maurice Cantavale (Dennis Farina) convinces him that the Californian grape grown in the Napa Valley is rapidly catching up. Spurrier heads out to California to taste this new wonder-wine for himself, and meets vintner Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) who is lovingly preparing a new Chardonnay at his Château Montelena winery. Spurrier invites Jim to put forth his wine into a competition to be held in Paris – the wines entered into the contest will be blind-tested and a winner chosen from the results. Jim is suspicious that the whole thing is a scam designed to reaffirm French supremacy in the production of wine and refuses to enter. However, his son Bo (Chris Pine) sends a few bottles forward without his father's knowledge. To everyone's surprise the Californian wine wins in the blind-tasting competition… and the dominance of France as the world's no.1 wine-producing nation is suddenly blown wide apart.The basic story is interesting enough and the film is always at its best when dealing with Spurrier's passion for wine and Barrett's passion for creating the perfect bottle. If the whole film had just focused on the snobbish superiority of the French and the quiet determination of the Americans to rival them, it would probably have been better than it is. What lets it down is the excessive time and attention dedicated to some of the subplots – one being Bo and Jim's difficult relationship, another being a rather dull love triangle. Obviously, the more thoroughly characters are developed in a movie the more we can relate to them, and the more fully we become caught up in their story. But there comes a point when too much emphasis can be placed on these minor things, making them become little more than "padding", and Bottle Shock is a film too padded-out for its own good. Overall, it is almost a charming feel-good film with a perfectly arresting story to tell. It's just that one can't help feeling that if it was 20 minutes shorter it would also be 20 minutes sharper. A missed opportunity, then… but not a wasted opportunity.
biagio-mazzi
The scenery is great and the feel for the epoch (except for Bo's wig) is not bad either but that's about it.I agree with many other reviewers: the road side accident scene is used too many times; there are too many scenes of someone looking pensively in the distance and saying deep things about wine making; the lodgings of the unpaid intern? I would not say no to such picturesque settings myself.A final point. We are supposed to feel angry for the fact that Bill Pullman's character is not (re-)made partner after he made perfectly clear that he hates that job and that coming back is the last thing he wants to do? Having said that the plot and the pace are reasonable. I cannot give less than 5 since after all it is a quite pleasant movie.
