Wine Country (2019)

[Armchair Critic]

When longtime friends meet up for a wine-soaked birthday getaway in Napa Valley, their perfectly planned weekend turns messier by the minute. Starring "SNL" alums Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Paula Pell and Emily Spivey.

"Can I give you some feedback" on this movie? (ha, you will get that after watching it)

After seeing much of the cast in interviews promoting this I was excited to see it. It's nice to see women in my age group in a comedy. I enjoyed it but I didn't think it was great.

[Dandesun]

Why's it always gotta be Napa? Oh wait... messy? Sure, keep the messy in Napa. I'm actually fine with that.

I speak settled happily in a wine country that's about 3 hours south of Napa.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The cast members are doing the rounds:

Ana Gasteyer on Seth Meyers:

Amy Poehler on Seth Meyers:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Amy Poehler on Jimmy Fallon:

Maya Rudolph on Jimmy Fallon:

Rachel Dratch on Stephen Colbert:

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I thought this movie was only in theaters (and it is in limited theaters) but it's also available on Netflix!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ana Gasteyer & Paula Pell discuss Wine Country:.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 5/10/2019 at 5:36 AM, Armchair Critic said:

 I enjoyed it but I didn't think it was great.

I am sort of the same way. I liked it and am glad I watched it, but probably won't watch it again. Although between this and the Kelsey Grammer/Kristen Bell movie, I do like that Netflix is making movies that are enjoyable and easy to watch but would never make it into a theatre.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I liked it.  I liked it better than a lot of other Netflix movies (like that Kelsey Grammer one) or The Perfect Date, etc. and I liked it better than Sisters.

It's fun, it's exactly what you'd expect.

It won't change your life, but it's a fun enough afternoon.  And yes it's on Netflix already.

[QQQQ]

I liked it in a movie of the week way (do those still exist??).

[SoMuchTV]

6 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

I liked it.  I liked it better than a lot of other Netflix movies (like that Kelsey Grammer one) or The Perfect Date, etc. and I liked it better than Sisters.

It's fun, it's exactly what you'd expect.

It won't change your life, but it's a fun enough afternoon.  And yes it's on Netflix already.

I agree, it was pretty much what I expected it would be.  I didn't recognize two of the friends, but I see that they were long-time SNL writers.  And according to IMDB trivia, Tina Fey was part of that group, but her availability was limited, so she just had the more minor role of the home owner.

One thing bugged me though.  You don't need wi-fi to communicate, you just need cell service.  The jokes would have worked just as well that way (except maybe the ones about passwords).

[ElectricBoogaloo]

3 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

according to IMDB trivia, Tina Fey was part of that group, but her availability was limited, so she just had the more minor role of the home owner.

She was working on the Mean Girls musical. 

[MerBearHou]

I watched about 20 minutes of this and couldn’t stomach it.  Tina Fey was so bad; Maya Rudolph (who I adore) was ad-libbing by cussing a lot which I always think is lazy humor: the vibe was just sad.  I didn’t want to waste any more time on it.  The SNL crew who ad-lib in films take away from well-written scripts and often are not nearly as funny as they think they are IMO (looking at you, Will Ferrell).  

[roseslg]

Watched this last night sans vino. I needed all the vino.   It all just seemed so contrived.  I don’t feel I knew anything more about these women than after the first 5 minutes.  It was a whole lot of nothing.   Blah.   I wanted to love it, or even like it. 

[scrb]

Sounds like older women version of Sideways.

They would need a memorable quote like "I'm not drinking fucking Merlot!"

[BoogieBurns]

I loved it and I was obsessed with the soundtrack. Watched it thrice!

[Duke2801]

Gosh I love all of these ladies. But I did not love this movie. I kind of hated it actually. It wasn’t funny, nor was it really touching or poignant. It was just.. there. Paula Pell was probably the highlight; but the art scene with the millennials was seriously cringe. 

[hendersonrocks]

Totally agree with the general vibe here - it was a fine enough way to spend an hour and a half, but it is definitely not my next Sisters or Spy (go to movies whenever I need a pick-me-up). Paula Pell was the standout for me, and I felt like Tina Fey and her character added zero value. A+ music choices, though!

[Maysie]

Quote

Watched this last night sans vino. I needed all the vino.   It all just seemed so contrived.  I don’t feel I knew anything more about these women than after the first 5 minutes.  It was a whole lot of nothing.   Blah.   I wanted to love it, or even like it. 

Quote

Tina Fey was so bad

I don't know what I expected, but for some reason, I hoped for better.

Tina Fey was just awful - it felt very phoned in, like she just lowered her voice a bit and read some lines. I guess she doesn't have much range, maybe? But this should have been within her reach, especially given the group she was with and the very basic plot.

Because of the premise, I really didn't expect it to be great, but it was clear how predictable it was going to be early on with all the anvils being tossed around by Tina Fey's character and the psychic. I guess the only thing I didn't expect was that Jason Schwartzman would show up, cook a ridiculously massive pan of paella and sleep with Amy Poehler AND Ana Gasteyer. So, that was not predictable but it didn't seem to have much of a purpose - I didn't get the point of it. I also have a difficult time getting that his presence was such a surprise, given that Amy Poehler had literally scheduled everything down to the minute and he's suddenly the driver for their second day.

But I did watch the whole thing, with wine, which I guess made it watchable. And I kind of liked Maya Rudolph and Emily Spivey mourning Prince. Other than that, meh.

[Cheezwiz]

I was excited when I initially heard about this one - was hoping for Bridesmaids meets Sideways kinda thing, but I wound up not liking it.

I like all the comediennes, and actually found Jason Schwartzman kind of amusing, but the whole thing felt totally flat to me: not funny or touching. It seemed like the whole set-up and the gorgeous scenery were totally wasted.

Glad I was able to catch it on Netflix and avoid paying to see it in a theatre.

[cpcathy]

Let's be honest, it is NOT a movie theater movie. It is too slow and one review called it meandering, which is spot on. I love wine and wine country, and I am a huge SNL fan, but this was just okay. In fact, when it was over I felt depressed, because I am almost the same age as these ladies. The rolling down the hill sequence was supposed to be hilarious but was dumb. The whole thing could have been sharper and funnier. Paula Pell was a standout, however! She's a funny lady!

[Ms Blue Jay]

I'm surprised by the reviews here!

I actually laughed at everything Tina Fey did.  Tina Fey and Jason Schwartzman were my favourite parts.  I honestly thought Tina Fey's character was so funny and special, and I'm definitely not a Tina fangirl or anything.

[tennisgurl]

This was a nice enough little afternoon movie, definitely not something to see in theaters, but I do love wine and wine country and these actresses, so I am glad that I saw it. It had some funny lines (Sunshine was right! If we look her up online we`re gonna find out she died 50 years ago!) but not too many and I felt like I still didnt know these women very well. Pleasant enough movie, but I kind of wanted more. 

Also, I thought they were kind of dicks a lot? To the doctor, to the people working at the wineries, to the millennials, to Jason Schwartzman, to each other, it just felt cringy and awkward. The scene with the millennials was especially embarrassing, you can tell this is the only hot take that Tina Fey and company have about young people, and we`ve seen in it so much of their work before. Its still not super funny or fresh either. 

Edited May 28, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Dandesun]

I feel like I could write my own movie about drinking wine and going to vineyards and it would be better than this.

Things that have happened:

1. Some weird ass wine club pick up parties that have included croquet, karaoke and contortionists.

2. Somehow winning free wine on a wine tasting cruise after completing a quiz where I couldn't even remember the name of the SS Minnow. Immediate thoughts were "how drunk and dumb are the rest of you?!" But it was all worth it for the abalone to eat and the sea otters to watch,

3. The Perfect Pour - where your server pours the tasting amount and sets the glass on it's side and it just barely bubbles over. Very impressive,

4. My sister calling me 'Wanna go wine tasting on Thursday? It's for work.' 'Okay!'

5. Making friends with various servers and hanging out with them outside of wineries. We also supply them with beer because they get sick of wine.

6. "You can roll cheese cubes in spices?! That's a thing?" Immediately sign up for the wine club.

7. "I'm a Kim Crawford girl." "I... don't know what that means." Fast-forward to my sister, myself and our poor server friend who was the 'I don't know what that means' guy to using 'Kim Crawford' as shorthand for 'basic bitch.'

8. Cutting my sister off of white wine in the late fall and winter. "WE HAVE SO MUCH RED!! We have to drink it!!" "But... Albarino!!"

9. When friends come to visit and we take them out to the vineyards. "DO NOT TRY TO KEEP UP WITH US! Pace yourself! We are professionals (not really but we drink like we are) and the last time you did this we didn't see you for the rest of the night. And most of the next morning."

10. The Christmas party at our friend's tasting room where all of our employees were ambivalent about only wine being available so we got some of EVERYTHING ELSE and everyone ended up loving the wine and buying it and we had a bunch of booze leftover that we're not going to drink because we like wine better.

11. Impressing Italian people with our knowledge of Falanghina.

12. Refusing to leave the tasting room until we've finished that jigsaw puzzle god dammit!!

13. "Where would you like to wine taste, out of town friends?" "Let's just go to all of them!" "There's over 500 places... you're going to have to narrow it down a little bit."

14. "Was this in Sideways?" "No... that's Los Olivos. This is Paso Robles." "Can we go?" "No, it's an hour and a half away and there are over 500 places RIGHT HERE. You know what? We'll decide where we go. And you'll like it!"

15. Going out of state and going on a wine run... and discovering we have no idea how to shop for wine at a grocery store in Idaho. "Why is there only Chardonnay?!" "Look, there's Pinot from Willamette. Get that. Get lots of that."

16. Pretentious wine tasters. "What's the pH balance of this vintage?" Actual wine maker stares at them. "That's not something I ever worry about... and I MADE it."

17. Reading tasting notes with wine makers. "So when I say 'forest floor' what do you think of?" "Moldy leaves... mud... poop... not things I want to taste in a wine. Ever." "Notes of iced violet..." "My palette is clearly unsophisticated. Or I am. I don't even know what that would taste or smell like." "Dusty Tannins..." "That's my dancer name."

Better?

[choclatechip45]

I watched this last night and I enjoyed it. The only bad part was Tina Fey's character.

[twoods]

Yeah her character served zero purpose. The movie would have been just as funny without her storyline.