Before 1976, there were two classifications of wine in the world. There was French wine and there was wine that wasn’t French. The movie “Bottle Shock“, directed by Randall Miller (Nobel Son) is based on the true story of how some upstart colonials in California had the audacity to challenge the haughty wine preconceptions of both the French and the world.
Jim Barrett, played by Bill Pullman (Independence Day), is a former lawyer-turned-winemaker who seeks perfection in the fermentation of the grape. Through this, he struggles with his uninspired son Bo (Chris Pine, who plays James T. Kirk in the upcoming Star Trek reboot) against the backdrop of the Napa Valley. Steven Spurrier, played by Alan Rickman (Sweeney Todd), is a British expatiate living in Paris who hopes to boost his business by promoting a blind tasting between French wines and California wines. As Spurrier reaches the the Napa Valley he meets the Baretts and their lovely intern Sam, played by Rachael Taylor (Transformers) and is introduced to American wines that were far better then he expected.
Overall, I found it to be an enjoyable film. It has a true-story sort of feel to it, as it relates a pretty good snapshot of the later half of the seventies. The sight of Rickman, even without the snobbishness of his character, driving a Gremlin was nearly worth the price of admission. Miller does an excellent job of capturing the sense of that in-between time which was no longer the 60’s, but not yet the 80’s. I think this was epitomized through the son Bo (Pine), whose journey shows the difficulty of being a young adult. Bo’s having to choose between the bacchanal carouse of beach parties and trying to make something of himself and seems to echo the struggle for both himself and society around him.
Pullman is great in his portrayal of the stereotypical American who just won’t quit. To be the sort of man to throw away a comfortable career as a lawyer, with all the perks to go with it, in order to chase his dreams as a farmer takes a certain sort of person. Pullman is convincing as a man who utterly believes in what he is trying to do, while at the same time is under the pressures of an aimless son and multiple bank loans against his winery. This is all coupled with the knowledge that if he isn’t successful with his vintage he will have failed completely.
Rachael Taylor (Sam), Freddy Rodriguez (Gustavo Brambila) and Eliza Dushku (Joe) all turn in great performances, but Dennis Farina (Maurice) steals the best supporting roll. As the loud, slightly uncouth, American living in Paris, he is a business neighbor of Spurrier. When he is not making smartass remarks and telling him how to run his business, he is stealing Spurrier’s wine.
For me, there were a couple of weaknesses to the film, the first being pacing. The rising action seemed to stumble a bit on its way to the climax. This is understandable, considering the film was conveying a story based on true events. There are going to be elements of real life drama that don’t fit into a conventional story arc but are still too important to leave out. The other aspect that I believe some movie goers will have an issue with is the romantic entanglements of some of the characters. Without sounding too prudish, when a character hits the sheets with one person and then turns to his best friend, it can confuse the audience. When that happens it makes the audience wonder why she didn’t stay with the first one.
Overall I would rate this movie three out of five well-aged bottles of vino. If you are a fan of fermented beverages, or simply enjoy watching the hauteur smiles slide of elitist French faces I would recommend Bottle Shock to you. If you aren’t happy without at least a few explosions in your films, I would at least wait until video to catch this one.
By the way, if you do catch the film and are interested in the winery, Bo Barrett is still the winemaker (spoiler!) at Chateau Montelena and their 2006 vintage Chardonnay goes for about US $42 a bottle.