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I went with my mother to see it. I'm in my mid-twenties, she's in her mid-fifties. She really enjoyed it as she and my father are big wine fans. They spent their honeymoon in Napa, and even know the manager of Coppola's Napa vineyard. In that respect she enjoyed the movie a lot more than I did.

A big part of the movie felt like a travel advert for California wine country, though overlaying that with Mile's tedious wine apprciation might keep some people away! It is frankly a riot for me to read about mother and son watching this movie together when I think about my clan's "family values". I have one or two relations who could appreciate this movie, but a bigger number would have to be taken from the theater in an ambulance.

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As a person who loves movies (and dislikes alchohol of any type), however, I merely appreciated the wine parts of the movie, but loved the movie its self. I'm a huge Paul Giamatti fan, and thought he did a fantastic job. I think he should have gotten an Oscar nomination.

I hadn't seen American Splendor, but I will now. Great work at giving me a low-grade version of the creeps, Paul! Oscars are about nothing.

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I personally thought the end was just how it should be, and how I imagine it would have in real life. ***SPOILERS*** Thomas Hayden Church's character loves his new wife, but will (without a doubt) cheat on her. That's just his nature. Madsen and Giamatti's characters had a genuine connection, and I think she realized that he doesn't have it all together, and didn't condone what his friend was doing. I think it's something she thought they could get past, and that it was worth it to do so. I think it was a good ending.

I didn't place Virginia Madsen with blonde hair. What a hotty! (Oops! Strike that!). I didn't begrudge the movie having a positive, hopeful ending (too much), but I just felt that if Miles was *really* going to fulfill his character, it would have ended in the fast food joint right as the '61 was revealed. OK, too melancholy, but I thought that was the spot. I wonder how the book, which apparently lacks some of the high-falutin' Milton/Maya dialogue, ends.

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The way I see it, Sideways appeals to a certain generation like Garden State appeals to mine, although I tend to think that the latter is more about a generation than about a few people, but maybe people from the Sideways generation relate more to these guys than I think.

My friend won't mind if I snip from her email "Actually, I think he does have a conscience kinda. As long as you're standing right in front of him. And he believes he's a romantic. Like I said, every woman knows a guy like him. A total jerk but very likeable."

I'd told her that I want to be less like Miles and more like Jack!

It is probably not a good thing, but I do relate more than I'd like to Miles. Just the early shots of him slowly making his getaway from San Diego, I thought those were great.