Alan Rickman and Chris Pine made an unexpectedly memorable pairing in a 2008 comedy-drama, giving the film a curious place in both actors’ careers. Netflix is bringing that overlooked collaboration back into the spotlight this month.
Netflix will stream this underrated comedy in October
As per What’s on Netflix, Bottle Shock is coming to Netflix starting Oct. 22, giving subscribers another shot at this oddball Rickman-Pine collaboration.
The movie features Bill Pullman as Jim Barrett, with Rachael Taylor, Freddy Rodríguez, Dennis Farina and Eliza Dushku also in the lineup. Rickman plays wine expert Steven Spurrier, while Pine takes the role of Napa winemaker Bo Barrett. Bradley Whitford and Miguel Sandoval round out the supporting players.
Chris Pine looks almost unrecognizable here, sporting long blond locks that feel worlds away from the appearance audiences would later associate with his better-known roles. Alan Rickman also steps outside his territory, ditching his usual dramatic characters for the role of a wine specialist.
Randall Miller directed the 110-minute film and shared the screenplay with Jody Savin and Ross Schwartz. J. Todd Harris, Brenda Lhormer, Marc Lhormer, Miller, Savin and Marc Toberoff produced the project. The story draws from the 1976 Judgment of Paris wine competition.
The movie turns the famous blind tasting into its dramatic hook, with California vintners going head-to-head with France’s celebrated wine tradition. The critical response, though, landed somewhere in the middle. Commercially, the movie struggled to clear its reported budget. The film was made on a budget of $5 million against $4.63 million worldwide gross.
Rotten Tomatoes shows a 48% critics’ score from 122 reviews, compared with 59% from more than 10,000 audience ratings. IMDb users have given it a 6.8 score. Pine and Rickman bring plenty to the plot, but the movie’s real strength is its wonderfully oddball sense of humor. Its playful detours, slightly loopy energy and refusal to take itself too seriously give the film a charm that feels a little left-field in the best way.
