Bottle Shock

Ham-fisted and half-assed, this story of the early days of California winemaking (circa 1976, the year “California defeated all Gaul,” as Time put it back when West Coast vino trumped France’s) is unsure whether it’s a dark comedy, an oenological thriller or an overwrought “true life” underdog melodrama. So instead, it’s a little bit of all those things, uncorked and left to sit till it goes down like vinegar. As vintner Jim Barrett, Bill Pullman is either one hardheaded sumbitch or else just a crazy dude in serious need of institutionalization. (The movie makes it hard to tell.) Director and co-writer Randall Miller should have kept the film small and low-key, like Alan Rickman, who delivers the sole great performance as a snooty Paris wine-store owner.