Bottle Shock is the story of an American winery that surprised its community by winning the first blind taste test against the French. It isn’t likely to light the box office world aflame like The Dark Knight, but some will find a generally enjoyable film that, despite several shortcomings, captures well the American underdog spirit.
Based on a true story and set in California’s Napa Valley in the 1970s, Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) plays the down-on-his-luck owner of Chateau Montelena. Jim is the father of lovable loser Bo (Chris Pine), a happy-go-lucky hippie who spends his days as if on a permanent summer vacation. Both manage a winery struggling for credibility in an elitist culture that considers any wine produced outside of France the equivalent of Juicy Juice.
The plot of Chateau Montelena is told alongside Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman), the owner of a Parisian wine shop similarly struggling for customers. In a half-baked publicity stunt, Spurrier decides to match the French against the upstart Americans in a blind taste test of both countries’ wines. A veteran of such films as Die Hard and the Harry Potter series, the scenes with Rickman are unsurprisingly the most entertaining. With a frilly mustache and stuck-up demeanor, Rickman is hilariously arrogant as he tours the Napa Valley and begins tasting the American wines with looks of surprise and enlightenment. Originally thought as cultured and refined, Spurrier soon discovers he’s the one with much to learn, moving on from California wine to guacamole and Kentucky-fried chicken in his quest to try new things.
Once the taste test finally commenced, the rest was history. The wine world was turned upside down, Napa Valley began its historic emergence and the Americans beat those snobby, peace-loving, baguette-eating Frenchmen once again. That rah-rah American pride is a feeling Bottle Shock taps into quite frequently and unapologetically, and some may consider it overdone. Still, considering the country’s economic and political state, it’s refreshing to find a film that makes Americans feel good about their country again.
Where Bottle Shock especially stumbles is in its pacing. In an attempt to stretch a straightforward story into something fitting a 2-hour film, plenty of meaningless secondary characters and go-nowhere scenes are scattered along the way. Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez) is a rival winemaker who earns plenty of screen time but goes conspicuously absent towards the film’s end. Sam (Rachael Taylor) is the primary love interest in a film that didn’t need one, eventually sparking an unnecessary love triangle between Bo and Gustavo. Bottle Shock struggles to introduce any meaningful female characters, and the two that are most prominent (Taylor and Eliza Dushku), are paraded around as eye candy.
Bottle Shock is a film struggling with its identity. It has a sexy, young cast but a plot most appealing for 30-somethings. It lacks the genuinely funny moments required of a comedy, and the scenes that were intended to have the most emotional punch, particularly the father-son moments between Jim and Bo, fail to connect. Yet the core plot of an American winery that defied the world provides the kind of feel-good story not often found in modern films. Despite Bottle Shock’s faults, moviegoers not opposed to some shameless sentimentality will likely enjoy themselves.
