Directed by Randall Miller, "Bottle Shock" views this seismic occurrence from both sides of the Atlantic, lightly fictionalizing it into human comedy. In Paris is Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman), a transplanted Englishman and full-time wine snob whose little shop is dying on the vine. Concocting the idea of a competition to pit French wines against international upstarts, he bribes well-known critics to serve as judges. Almost as an afterthought, a gaudy American friend (Dennis Farina) urges Steven to travel to Napa and actually try the fruits of the local vineyards. Stiffening his upper lip, Mr. Spurrier goes abroad.
Cut to dusty Chateau Montelena, one of the many vineyards run by the self-styled "hicks" of Napa. Actually, owner Bill Barrett (Bill Pullman) used to be a well-paid San Francisco lawyer, but as far as the movie is concerned he's terse and earthbound, straight out of "American Gothic." The vineyard has two mortgages against it, though, and Bill's wastrel hippie son Bo (Chris Pine) is more interested in chasing booty than filling bottles. His best friend Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez) is a gifted vintner - in the movie's romanticized view, he's nothing short of a grape whisperer - but since he's Mexican no one takes him seriously.
The script tosses in a curvy blond wine intern (Rachael Taylor) to stir up jealousy between the friends; I have no idea if she's based on anyone real, but I guess the producers needed a babe. Taylor's fun but the least convincing scenes in "Bottle Shock" involve her sub-"Jules and Jim" romances with Bo and Gustavo, not to mention a sub-"It Happened One Night" hitchhiking sequence updated to the braless '70s.
(Actually, the movie's single least convincing aspect is Pine's hair: a flowing yellow wig that I found increasingly riveting the more I tried to ignore it. The thing nearly becomes a character in its own right.)
