A Look Back on Sideways

Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor on human characters, writing with rhythm, and why they never think about theme and sub-text.

By Steve Ryfle. During the final half hour of Sideways, a happy-go-lucky ladies’ man named Jack (Thomas Haden Church) gets his comeuppance after his motorcycle-riding girlfriend finds out what a womanizer he is. She takes off her helmet and proceeds to bash his face in with it, and for the rest of the movie Jack […]