“Bottle Shock,” a lenient and unsophisticated movie, not swanky at all, but full of flavor, attempts to draw attention on a not-so-famous moment of American history. Low budget, self-distributed, clumsily appealing, the film made by husband-and-wife duo Randall Miller and Jody Savin is the sort of time-honored Hollywood amusement that, hypothetically speaking, should be long gone in this modern age.

The story is both really engaging and truly interesting. In 1976, at a congregation very close to Paris, a panel of wine experts carried out a blind tasting at which two California anonymous wines triumphed over their more famous and renowned French opponents. The incident changed the haughty self-satisfied wine-aficionado world completely. Just out of the blue, everybody made the astonishing discovery that France was not the only spot on the globe where high-quality wine was actually produced and whose alcoholic beverages’ value was recognized worldwide. What’s more, everybody was flabbergasted by the idea that just any grapes could bottle marvelously. 

The movie also sheds light on two so-called wine-connoisseur underdogs who are desperately craving for success. The first is Steven Spurrier, impersonated by Alan Rickman, whose scorched soft murmur and impression of careworn portentousness are never annoying. Moreover, Steven Spurrier is a British wine dealer fruitlessly looking for a way to join the French oenological organization. In spite of his skillful and perceptive nature, the members of the establishment always slam the door in his face. Of course the blind tasting is a trick he rustles up with his friend Maurice (Dennis Farina), a deportee from Milwaukee, whose jagged conduct and tasteless outfits conflict with a refined penchant. Spurrier leaves for Napa, as Maurice insists, where Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman), an erstwhile attorney from San Francisco strives to convert his life of middle-class customariness into an exceptional novel. A stickler and a bit of a bragger, Jim has serious problems with his shaggy son, Bo (Chris Pine), who, along with his pals Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez) and Sam (Rachael Taylor), represents a fresh generation of flippant wine aficionados.

One of the main acting experiences in “Bottle Shock” is fashioning character progress and evolution through the tasting of the wine. Does truth lie in wine after all?  Alan Rickman’s most significant challenges lie in his facial expression, as each facial muscle must move separately to transmit the fine distinctions of his tasting savoir faire. Gustavo and his father combine their lines on the poignant nature of the grapes, while Bo Barrett, drinks the wine as if it were beer (or water, depends on one’s disposition).

The film’s creators work hard to place the mesmerizing tale about the long forgotten wine industry into some kind of movie genre or another. Nevertheless, “Bottle Shock” is incapable to fathom what type of film it really is, or at least wishes to be, and madly oscillates between nutty comedy and moving drama. Although it may lack structure and cohesion at some points, the film’s loopy and eccentric spirit and scenery depict a complex and multifaceted world, which, though out-of-the-way, becomes more than catchy and likable.