SInce my Amazon package did NOT come today (BOO! HISS!). I settled in with last year's indie hit SIDEWAYS.
I was wary of this film because I had gotten mixed reviews on it from friends who saw it in the theater. I also remembered my complete disgust with the last BIG indie critical hit LOST IN TRANSLATION and was thinking this might be the same kind of bore.
Not to worry, I found it funny, moving, and INTERESTING. One really came to care about these characters and especially the Charlie Brown-ish main character played by Paul Giamatti. It is shocking to me that he wasn't Oscar nominated for this, but then looking at the list of nominees (Don Cheadle, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Johnny Depp, and winner Jamie Foxx), I don't know who should have been bumped off to make room for him. They were ALL deserving. Sometimes it happens that there are more outstanding performances than room for them on the nomination list.