Wine Country (2019)

★★

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Six women question their friendships and futures when they travel to Napa Valley, California, to celebrate a 50th birthday.

Classification: 15

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It’s a shame to see such great comedic talent squandered into a film that under-utilises them at almost every turn. Wine Country has its moments but the majority of the film is uninspired comedy and drama about middle-aged women coming to terms with the next stages of their life. The cast led by director Amy Poehler all have great chemistry and deliver a believable group of friends with a history together but the script does very little to create an interesting narrative to engage an audience.

The majority of the cast are all alumni from their time together on Saturday Night Live so the more character-driven moments feel more genuine because of the shared history between the actresses. Wine Country, however, doesn’t do anything creative with its premise or setting and the characters themselves are just undeveloped archetypes. There’s the busybody, the stay at home mom, the workaholic, the eccentric one, and because of these predictable character types, the resulting stories within the film become just as predictable.

While predictable it is fun to see this group of women have fun and make each other laugh. The camaraderie is where Wine Country shines so its a shame that it really isn’t until the third act when the film finally starts putting the characters in humorous situations. Highlights of the cast are Paula Pell and Tina Fey as the oddballs of the ensemble but also Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph who carry the film during the more dramatic moments. Rachel Dratch deserves praise for her physical performance as her character throws her back out that leads to a few comic highlights.

Wine Country tries to build a foundation of story and character so that comedy will have a stronger response. The foundation is there but the comedy is not, there are very little laugh out loud moments and no real memorable comedic scenes. The script goes for the most obvious jokes and targets and it never allows for organic reasoning for why these moments should be funny. Overall this feels like a missed opportunity of comedic talent both on and off camera.

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Director: #AmyPoehler

Cast: #RachelDratch, #AnaGasteyer, #AmyPoehler, #MayaRudolph, #PaulaPell, #EmilySpivey, #JasonSchwartzman, #TinaFey

Release Date: May 10th 2019

Available exclusively on Netflix.

Trailer: 

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