Bottle Shock - Movie Review

Redbox gave us Bottle Shock, a good little movie about the California wine industry's ascent to world dominance back in the late 70s. Starring more people than you'd think for a charmer such as this - Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman, Dennis Farina, the guy who plays James T. Kirk in the new Star Trek movie under a bad wig - the movie manages to work it's way through the story in a manner that's quite sunny and breezy, just like the Napa valley vistas it beautifully presents. Some of the sub-plot is a little ginned up - the love triangle, the father/son/ex-wife rivalry, the all-or-nothing-at-all dependence on winning the wine contest - but I didn't find that distracting. I found the story interesting and may have learned some things I didn't know before about California and French wines and, hey, for a buck rental, you can't beat that.