# "Sideways" - what am I missing? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677 "2005-04-04T16:08:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/21 "2005-04-04T18:50:23Z")
**Stranger** , your thoughtful analysis is enough for me to elevate my response from “meh” to “not bad”. Still overhyped, though, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/22 "2005-04-04T19:15:31Z")
I’m 35, wannabe writer, no drinking problem, and I’m in my first relationship with a woman ever. I have no exes to harangue me, but I do have plenty of emotional baggage. So maybe that’s why I connected with it. I found the characters genuine, and I appreciated them, flaws or no flaws. You had to pay attention to these people; they weren’t cardboard cutouts, they weren’t stereotypes, and they had actual issues that couldn’t be resolved in the span of any movie. I saw traces of myself and of other people I know in the characters in _Sideways_. This wasn’t a cinematic masterpiece, but it was a movie for grownups, which is all too rare. (Hey, I like juvenile escapism, too, but you can’t live on candy alone…) I have a novel yet to be finished. A couple of them, in fact. And that bit about making up excuses for being late: _I_ do that! I’ve been wrestling with it, but I do it. I even concoct excuses for being late even when I’m not going to need them. My friends and employers are more or less used to it now, for what that’s worth. I’ll lick this problem, one of these days. Oh, and as to self-absorption: I might be self-absorbed. Sometimes I think I am. Do you think I’m self-absorbed? Discuss. So I’d like to see another picture like this. They can keep churning ‘em out, as far as I’m concerned. I expect my mid-life crisis will hit late, so I wouldn’t mind seeing a few more movies on the subject before the inevitable! ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/23 "2005-04-04T19:22:02Z")
I might agree with everything that **Stranger** said but it still doesn’t make it a good movie for me. A lot of what he wrote was what this movie is NOT. It’s not a standard romantic comedy. It’s not a conventional plot with a neatly tied up end. That’s all well-and-good, and I typically appreciate that too, but just “not being typical” isn’t enough to make it good. Being a “slice of life” doesn’t make it good. I think a documentary about insane wine-iacs, in the style of _Fast, Cheap and Out Of Control_ would have been more interesting. I was more interested in the characters in _Spellbound_ than Jack & Miles. It almost seemed like the entire scene with Jack and the waitress was just to set up the “punchline” of giant naked guy running down the street. Did you learn anything from that scene about Jack and Miles that we hadn’t already learned 3 times over? It was unnecessary brushstrokes, the kind of thing that made the movie seem a bit sloppy. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/24 "2005-04-04T19:29:26Z")
I loved Sideways. I also loved Lost In Translation and I’ve seen more indie crap then most people in my years at film school. I’m 26 (25 when I saw it), wine drinker and enthusiast but not snob (unless it comes in a box). The only part that didn’t ring true to me was when THC’s character starts crying and saying that he can’t lose his wife. I thought Giamatti’s character was finally going to see him for the loser that he is, but he acquiesces. I was disappointed in him at that moment. **Lux Fiat** I think he was upset because he was a teacher (not a succesful writer) and his novel had just been given it’s final rejection. I’d be upset too. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/25 "2005-04-04T20:02:29Z")
The wife and I _liked_ **Sideways** , but didn’t _love_ it. We are both in our 40s, and proto-wine snobettes. (We took our honeymoon in the Santa Ynes valley, and the movie was like a home movie!) Just a slice of life…amusing but not profound. The dialogue between Naked Fat Guy and his wife while they were going at it was hysterical, though! ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/26 "2005-04-04T20:08:18Z")
> [@Chance the Gardener](#): > > This wasn’t a cinematic masterpiece, but it was a movie for grownups, which is all too rare. (Hey, I like juvenile escapism, too, but you can’t live on candy alone…) Maybe this is what made it a “great” movie; in comparison to other films out there it has a lot more complexity and depth, but not in a pandering, Big Important Message way. I watch a lot of older film, and I think it’s true that “they just don’t make them they way they used to”. I’m not going to be so simpleminded as to reduce it to the fill-in-the-blank Nora Ephrams Romantic Comedies and Jerry Bruckheimer Exploding Stuff and Boobs as lowering the expectations, but films that operate on the same level as, say, _Some Like It Hot_ or _Chinatown_ are few and far between, and are the purview of “independent” distributors rather than major studios. > [@Trunk](#): > > I think a documentary about insane wine-iacs, in the style of _Fast, Cheap and Out Of Control_ would have been more interesting. That actually sounds like a good idea; or on another tack, a Christopher Guest mockumentary, although it’s a target that perhaps lends itself _too_ easily to being lampooned. (Og, I hate those pretentious snobs down at the wine store; “There isn’t a single California wine under $80 that is even paletable.” Gimme a break, you supercilious plick!) > [@FilmGeek](#): > > The only part that didn’t ring true to me was when THC’s character starts crying and saying that he can’t lose his wife. I thought Giamatti’s character was finally going to see him for the loser that he is, but he acquiesces. I was disappointed in him at that moment. Actually, I think he’d seen that plenty of times before (Church made it clear the character was just playacting) and decided to go along with it either:[ul] [li]To placate him so he wouldn’t whine all the way home,[/li][li]To accomplish something worthwhile for this friend who didn’t appreciate any of his other bachelor weekend efforts, or[/li][li]'Cause Opal told him to.[/li][/ul]As a person, the character is supposed to be disappointing (and is so to himself, as well). That he doesn’t make some kind of grand revelation is a plus, to me. His biggest “moment” was drinking the bottle of wine he’d been saving, indicating that he was ready to move on, but still so connected to his past habits that he couldn’t just dump it down the sink. Instead, he “spoils” it by serving it up with a greasy burger. Or, maybe he was just acknowledging that nothing is perfect, and sometimes you have to share the good experiences with the mediocre. Or maybe I’m just overanalyzing the whole thing. :dubious: Anyway, it’s all just a matter of taste. I can’t count the number of people who have enthusiastically asked me if I’d seen _Team America_ yet. _sigh_ Yes, and let’s not talk about it, okay. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/27 "2005-04-04T20:25:55Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Saw _Sideways_ over the weekend, and my reaction was very much like my reaction to _Lost in Translation_: a nice little movie; amusing in spots, some good performances – but what was all the fuss about? > > When you remove all the wine-speak, is there anything memorable in the script? Did “I’M NOT DRINKING MERLOT!!” just cause the critics to collapse on the floor in hysterics? > > The scenery was nice, but shoot, I live in California, so that didn’t do much for me. _Sideways_ is this past years winner of the “So overtly pretentious that it HAS to be good” award. Sorta like “Lost in Translation.” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/28 "2005-04-04T20:52:32Z")
I’m 36, I don’t give two hoots about wine (I’m a teetotaller), I don’t care about California scenery, and I don’t like pretentious artsy types. Given all that, I loved both _Lost in Translation_ and _Sideways_. I liked them just becasue they were sincere attempts to portray characters taht seemed like real people, intelligent, talented, likeable people, in the kind of real non-dramatic crises we deal with on a day-to-day basis, and reacting in ways that people do in real life. I was never bored because I was always interested to see what they would do next. Nothing that they did was predictable to me, but they were also not unbelievable. I found the dialogue and the jokes hilarious, even if I rarely laughed out loud. Both movies left me feeling refreshed, not exhausted, like I do after seeing so many popular movies, after being the victim of a two-hour long sensory and intellectual assault with all the tools of modern technology. A movie like _Lost in Translation_ and _Sideways_ leaves me feeling that I’ve been asked to engage the best aspects of my character rather than the worst. To the extent that they might seem overhyped I would attribute to two things: (1) For the last couple of years, most movies have been absolute garbage, so something that’s marginally okay seems very refreshing. (2) Look at all the seemingly sincere people who dream their whole lives to become filmmakers – this is the kind of movie that we should be seeing all the time – not a dozen rehashes of slasher movies, teen sex romps, shootout-and-car-chase extravaganzas, and Adam Sandler/Rob Schneider/Jimmy Fallson type idiot comedies. The mere absence of outright cynicism, condescension, and stupidity makes it seem like a beacon in the dark. ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Fiat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lux\_Fiat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Fiat)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/29 "2005-04-04T21:09:29Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > **Lux Fiat** I think he was upset because he was a teacher (not a succesful writer) and his novel had just been given it’s final rejection. I’d be upset too. Oh, sure. That was clear. I was just sayin’, at this point in my own life, I’d strangle kittens to have a decent career and the motivation to finish something as big as a novel, so I was just playing “Oh yeah, you think _you_ have it bad?” Like I said, I identified with his character, to an extent. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/30 "2005-04-05T00:54:25Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > _Sideways_ is this past years winner of the “So overtly pretentious that it HAS to be good” award. Sorta like “Lost in Translation.” I just couldn’t disagree with that more. I’m 33 and I’m not a writer and I don’t drink wine but I saw it twice in the theatre and I can’t stand pretense. I can see how, if you don’t care about Miles, you won’t get anything out of the movie at all, but I really identified with him. Paul Giamatti (?) is a very good actor. I might be having a sort of premature midlife crisis, I’m not sure. I would not expect everyone to love that movie. There are all kinds of different personalities in this world. Miles is a frustrated artist who takes things very hard. He’s a pessimist, and he seems to suffer from that “learned helplessness” thing where he doesn’t really know if he even wants to keep moving forward but he has to and he has to find a way to live with his profound disappointments and the simple fact that he can never be blithe and may never have the life he wanted. I can imagine that there are plenty of people who don’t give a shit about him or his misery. Why did I care about Miles so much? I just don’t really know! I said it in the original thread, but I thought the big crisis in the movie was whether Miles was going to be able to continue his life or whether he would sink into alcoholism. I don’t think it’s easy to illustrate someone’s inner life in a movie. Things like getting over a relationship can be such huge dramas in our lives, but who wants to see a movie about whether or not a guy can get over his ex? It’s hard for me to explain how Sideways made that inner drama compelling to me. I felt desperate that he find some kind of peace because if he didn’t it I could picture his whole future being so dark and awful. I guess there are a lot of people who do trust life and think life can turn out okay all on its own, but I’m not that kind of person. I’ve been surprised how many people think it’s overblown or overhyped though. I don’t see why it shouldn’t be praised. And I really thought a lot happenedl. I didn’t think it was some movie about nothing. It was a movie about a lot of big things. I felt through the whole thing that I didn’t know if Miles was going to survive. Maybe he wouldn’t die, but inside he was really on a path to doom. Lost in Translation didn’t move me as much but I thought that if I were a bit younger it would have. I remember when I was like the girl in that movie, but now that I’m older it’s not as compelling to me. I still liked it, but I can see that Sideways is for a lot of people the way Lost in Translation is for me. It’s just that sometimes things don’t really “speak to you.” But that doesn’t mean they aren’t great. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/31 "2005-04-05T01:47:27Z")
It is a board bylaw that anytime a movie is loved by critics and is built up primarily by word of mouth, a thread like this one has to be started. Movies like this one either resonate with you or they don’t. If they don’t, it doesn’t mean you’re missing something or that the movie is pretentious crap; it means that it didn’t work for you, and that’s it. **CrazyCatLady** feels this way about _Lost in Translation_, which I loved. I hated _Before Sunrise_. We both loved _Garden State_ and _Napoleon Dynamite_ (well, I loved it, and I think she liked it a lot). I thought _Million Dollar Baby_ was almost unwatchable. I really enjoyed _Sideways_. I thought it was a great story about 1.) two people joined by nothing but the college roommate lottery bumping up against middle age, and 2.) a guy with a tremendous zeal for life and almost no success in it. (BTW, I’m 29, relatively happy but post-crisis or two, wine lover but not wealthy enough to be a wine snob, leftist tendencies but couldn’t live further away from California, culturally.) ---
**Author:** ![adeeperreality](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@adeeperreality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adeeperreality)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/32 "2015-10-29T04:23:24Z")
Listening to you guys completely miss the brilliance, beauty and humanity of this film “Sideways”, reminds me of Socrates… How he used to use what later became known as the Socratic method, to lore his students and contemporaries, (who, in their ignorance, thought they knew some stuff… and in comparison to Socrates and real wisdom… didn’t know anything truely worth knowing, like Socrates. Although he was brillient and knew far more then any of his peers who thought they had it all figured out… he knew that in comparison to what could be known… he knew practically nothing!! And in that knowledge of his ultimate ignorance… he was wise and humble and open to knowledge like a sponge to water! Had been alive to see the movie, being a regular kinda guy… brillient, and probably a lover of wine, he probably would have employed the Socratic method on you guys, who don’t get the depth, the beauty of cinematography, the intelligence, the subtle humanity, tragedy and victory of the human condition and spirit… Not to mention humor and brilliant career best performances for all involved… especially Giamatti! Socrates probably would have brought up the play, and asked about it… and let you use the comments, that you are so sure your right about, to prove just how little depth, subtle brillience, beauty and humor you mind, (at its current level of awareness and depth) is capable of actually seeing. Because like the very deep cliché saying says… Beauty is in the eye of the beholder… and it’s one of life’s great secrets. You eyes are blind to what you mind can’t see!! That’s how and why he would be would let them speak, only to reveal to him, just how little everyone else knew in comparison to him. Like that great Abraham Lincoln saying… Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, then to speak and remove all doubt! Careful thinking your always the smartest one in the room… because you just might meet someone, someday, who actually is▪ Greg Ferguson theunlikelyguru/twitter adeeperreality/blogger ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/33 "2015-10-29T11:17:46Z")
I saw it before it started getting hyped and enjoyed it. However, when the hype started I knew I would have been disappointed if I saw after the hype. It was good but not that good. Reading some of the responses above, identifying with Miles seems to be the key to enjoying this movie. I remember during the hype stage someone pointed out that the typical movie critic could see themselves in Miles the wine critic. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/34 "2015-10-29T12:01:53Z")
[quote=adeeperreality] Careful thinking your always the smartest one in the room… because you just might meet someone, someday, who actually is▪[\quote] You mean **Stranger in a Train**? ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/35 "2015-10-29T12:57:41Z")
> [@adeeperreality](#): > > Listening to you guys completely miss the brilliance, beauty and humanity of this film “Sideways”, reminds me of Socrates… How he used to use what later became known as the Socratic method, to lore his students and contemporaries, (who, in their ignorance, thought they knew some stuff… and in comparison to Socrates and real wisdom… didn’t know anything truely worth knowing, like Socrates. Although he was brillient and knew far more then any of his peers who thought they had it all figured out… he knew that in comparison to what could be known… he knew practically nothing!! And in that knowledge of his ultimate ignorance… he was wise and humble and open to knowledge like a sponge to water! Had been alive to see the movie, being a regular kinda guy… brillient, and probably a lover of wine, he probably would have employed the Socratic method on you guys, who don’t get the depth, the beauty of cinematography, the intelligence, the subtle humanity, tragedy and victory of the human condition and spirit… Not to mention humor and brilliant career best performances for all involved… especially Giamatti! Socrates probably would have brought up the play, and asked about it… and let you use the comments, that you are so sure your right about, to prove just how little depth, subtle brillience, beauty and humor you mind, (at its current level of awareness and depth) is capable of actually seeing. Because like the very deep cliché saying says… Beauty is in the eye of the beholder… and it’s one of life’s great secrets. You eyes are blind to what you mind can’t see!! That’s how and why he would be would let them speak, only to reveal to him, just how little everyone else knew in comparison to him. Like that great Abraham Lincoln saying… > Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, then to speak and remove all doubt! Careful thinking your always the smartest one in the room… because you just might meet someone, someday, who actually is▪ > Greg Ferguson > theunlikelyguru/twitter > adeeperreality/blogger ???:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/36 "2015-10-29T13:03:44Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > ???:dubious: C’mon, you’ve seen this before. A “brilliant” mind joins the board and dredges up a 10 year old zombie thread to tell us all that we’re just not as smart as he. We need this wonderful lesson in humility every once in a while. ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/37 "2015-10-29T13:24:59Z")
> [@adeeperreality](#): > > Listening to you guys completely miss the brilliance, beauty and humanity of this film “Sideways”, reminds me of Socrates… How he used to use what later became known as the Socratic method, to lore his students and contemporaries, (who, in their ignorance, thought they knew some stuff… and in comparison to Socrates and real wisdom… didn’t know anything truely worth knowing, like Socrates. Although he was brillient and knew far more then any of his peers who thought they had it all figured out… he knew that in comparison to what could be known… he knew practically nothing!! And in that knowledge of his ultimate ignorance… he was wise and humble and open to knowledge like a sponge to water! Had been alive to see the movie, being a regular kinda guy… brillient, and probably a lover of wine, he probably would have employed the Socratic method on you guys, who don’t get the depth, the beauty of cinematography, the intelligence, the subtle humanity, tragedy and victory of the human condition and spirit… Not to mention humor and brilliant career best performances for all involved… especially Giamatti! Socrates probably would have brought up the play, and asked about it… and let you use the comments, that you are so sure your right about, to prove just how little depth, subtle brillience, beauty and humor you mind, (at its current level of awareness and depth) is capable of actually seeing. Because like the very deep cliché saying says… Beauty is in the eye of the beholder… and it’s one of life’s great secrets. You eyes are blind to what you mind can’t see!! That’s how and why he would be would let them speak, only to reveal to him, just how little everyone else knew in comparison to him. Like that great Abraham Lincoln saying… > Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, then to speak and remove all doubt! Careful thinking your always the smartest one in the room… because you just might meet someone, someday, who actually is▪ > Greg Ferguson > theunlikelyguru/twitter > adeeperreality/blogger This is the target audience for the movie you all were trying to identify upthread. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/38 "2015-10-29T13:28:50Z")
> [@unwashed\_brain](#): > > This is the target audience for the movie you all were trying to identify upthread. Smug douche bags suffering from delusions of grandeur? ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/39 "2015-10-29T16:33:50Z")
For me it was a well done slice-of-life film about tragic flawed people as they maneuver through life. None of the characters were meant to be sympathetic or admired, IMO, just observed. I put it along _Ghost World_, _Lost in Translation_, _About Schmidt_, _Swingers_ as a movie with no one that I would admire or seek to emulate, but portraying the non-obvious traits and circumstances that trap people in stagnation. Call it the “Studies in Flawed People” genre. Nobody’s evil, yet nobody’s heroic either. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677/40 "2015-10-29T17:26:41Z")
It’s meta. Just like supposed wine experts are consistently swayed by preconceived notions of quality, the movie was labeled with buzz and that buzz created expectations which were conformed to despite actual content. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-what-am-i-missing/297677.md?page=3)