Alexander Payne’s Sideways is a slice of life in Miles Raymond’s midlife crisis. Though there aren’t any picnics in Rex Pickett’s novel, Payne invented three picnic episodes hoping to present Miles in a pleasant situation.
The first is Miles Raymond’s memory of an “incredible view of endless vineyards” that he associated with ex-wife Virginia when they picnicked on very, “Victoria and I used to like this view,” Miles says, “Once we had a picnic here and drank a ’95 Opus One. With smoked salmon and artichokes, but we didn’t care.”
The second is an idyllic picnic on a hillside near La Purisima Mission Church at sunset. The scene’s beauty, the sunset glow, and the distant vineyards smooth Miles’ anxiety about his relationship with Maya Randall. They sit beside one another but do not touch. With them is Jack Cole, a cad having a fling even though he is about to be married the next Sunday.
At the third, Miles and Maya have a leisurely time eating store-bought food. They sit comfortably on the grass; he’s doing a crossword puzzle; she’s reading the paperhey drink red wine in glass stems, eat bread, and drink with what food is unknown.
See Alexander Payne. Sideways (2004). The screenplay by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor is based on Rex Pickett’s Sideways (2004), Rex Pickett. Sideways. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.
The cast: Paul Giamatti as Miles; Thomas Haden Church as Jack; Sandra Oh as Stephanie; Jessica Hecht as Victoria