Hollywood has the uncanny ability of turning a great story into utter nonsense, and still making a great movie. Enter Bottle Shock
As Steven Spurrier, Alan Rickman provides mounting evidence to his greatness, giving the role a twist of half Mr. Bean, half Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
It’s even good enough to make you forget what an insult it is to Steven Spurrier’s legend in orchestrating the competition between Californian and French wines that has become known as the Judgment of Paris. 
That would also be the story of the movie: great acting, scandalously ignorant writing.
Bill Pullman does a superb job of playing such an awful portrayal of Jim Barrett, owner of Chateau Monetlena, who’s idea of problem solving involves challenging his son Bo (Chris Pine) to try to beat the living hell out of him in the backyard boxing ring. Winner takes all.
At some point they just gave up writing his character. He spends the last half hour of the movie trying to drink 500 cases of “ruined” chardonnay, then all but runs naked through a law office while he machetes a wine bottle to death. Oh, and, God forbid his precious wine enters the hands of that despicable Brit, Mr. Spurrier.
The banal addition of Sam, played by Aussie Rachel Taylor, an intern whose only apparent responsibility is to screw whichever character is currently peaking during the story line, is categorically lame (and chauvinist, but I didn’t really just say that.)
Eliza Dushku, on the other hand, plays the charmingly sassy bartender Joe, who also happens to deliver my favorite line, “What were you expecting, Thunderbird?” In response to Steven Spurrier’s shock at the quality of Californian wine.
Probably most telling of the movie’s ethos of rock-star absurdity is a blind tasting showdown featuring Gustavo Brambila (Freddy Rodriguez,) who has the uncanny ability to recall every vintage of every wine of every appellation on the freaking planet earth. 
And while in real life this skill would be a ticket to the most obscure regions of fame, in Bottle Shock it offers Bo and Gustavo the ability to hustle Napa hicks who may be able to tell the difference between a Zinfandel and a Cabernet Sauvignon, but fortunately for our heroes, not a 1961 Cheval Blanc.
What that bottle of wine is doing in a dive bar’s back room is anyone’s guess.
While factual integrity may not not be the movie’s strong suit, rock-star hair and sex appeal certainly are. And at just just an hour and forty minutes, I’d say the movie is worth your time.
