4/5 Bottle Shock movie
  by Diane W. Shaefer (Pittsburgh,.PA)
this was given as a gift so I don't know what the quality of the film was but the arrival was fast and the price was right. I hope my giftee enjoys it.

3/5 Hollywood cliches maul a real story
  by J. C Clark (Overland Park, KS United States)
When I choose to evaluate a film here, I look over the other reviews to see if someone has said what I want to say. If so, no need to repeat it. But I don't see the thing that killed this film here. It was dull, dull, dull!

Alan Rickman is a great actor, and made his small scenes perfect. He delivered his lines with aplomb and verve. Otherwise, though, all the boring Hollywood cliches came roaring out of their cages to hunt down and exterminate any freshness this film may have had. I don't really care how historically accurate this was; I'm not expecting "truth". But I am expecting something other than every dull and predictable story line to appear. I could list a ton, but we had a phony wine identifying, Maria Callas, the beautiful girl in the dying VW, the jealousy between rivals for said pretty girl. (Did anyone think she could appear on the scene without her sleeping with someone?) All old stuff, all done before, all utterly predictable and cold. The dialog was trite, the acting bland, the excitement as exciting as watching the Yankees play their double-A farm team. Gee, I wonder what will happen.

Glorious scenery (and my, we do spend a lot of time flying across vineyards) and Alan Rickman were the Mondavi Reserve. The rest was pure Gallo, bland, unsurprising, and without character.

4/5 Better than the French
  by Norma Strother (Dana Point, CA 92629 USA)


This movie was a delight. The French have for too long been shoving their wines on the world and saying they were the best.

Well, guess what? They are not the best.

Having been to France several times and tasted a lot of French wines...I know of what I speak.

"Bottle Shock" is a really fun movie.

4/5 A Rare Vintage
  by Pied Piper (Cullowhee, N.C. United States)
This film is one of those rare gems that brings out a terrific moment in history that may or may not be common knowledge to a lot of people. I myself am not a wine connoisseur, however that did not diminish my enjoyment of this film one iota. This film only added to my ever growing enjoyment of independent films over the all flash and no substance of the big budget Hollywood films.

Alan Rickman, Dennis Farina, and Bill Pullman are the crowd pleasers here. Their characters are witty, charming and endearing in their own respective ways. Rickman's and Farina's characters bring a great amount of humor to the screen as a Parisian wine shop owner and his somewhat Philistine but always loyal American customer. As always, the moments that Rickman is on the screen are the most enjoyable moments of the film, and are a pleasure to savor. Bill Pullman also succeeded in this film as being someone that you wanted to root for - it is one of the best roles I have seen him in.

The only weak point of the film, in my opinion were the actors playing the younger characters. They were rather lackluster - typical of most young actors. They don't possess screen presence, nor the talent to hold your attention. I got the feeling they were just reading their lines. Luckily though, their scenes pass quickly and then it's on to the better actors in the film.

On the whole, I found the movie to be quite good. The story was fascinating and amusing. The underachievement of the younger characters is easily outweighed by the true acting talent in the film, thereby making it a truly enjoyable experience.

4/5 Bottle Shock
  by Martin R. Moore (San Diego)
This is a very good story about the early days of the California wine industry and its struggles to compete with the mighty French! The actors do a nice job of portraying the people and the scenery is beautiful. Its entertaining and if you are into wine, a fun movie that you will watch more than once.