Wine Country pours spirits upon its sunny vineyards but fails to let the alcohol breathe. Poehler is undoubtedly a talented comedian. From writing/producing the popular sitcom ‘Parks and Recreation’ to pitting her hilarity against other comedians in ‘Saturday Night Live’. She clearly has a funny bone, and more often than not, my darkened soul is susceptible to her generous light, especially when teamed up with Fey. So what happened here? Poehler, and her usual recruits from the star-studded alumni of SNL, play middle-aged women who take a weekend break at a vineyard to celebrate their friend’s fiftieth birthday. Rather predictably though, each character is hiding a personal detriment from the others which soon manifests into tame drama.
Despite not writing the screenplay, Poehler, in what is her directorial debut, had a hand in the story. Unfortunately, this plot consisting of an uneventful itinerary, lacked any humour or narrative focus whatsoever. Each event, ranging from expensive wine tasting to a drone photo-shoot, ensued no visual hilarity and instead provided staging grounds for mild conversations. These conversing moments were executed naturally and contained an organic flow, but the restraints provided by the script produced a pedestrian pace, removing the much required kinetic energy.
Essentially, these moments exercised limited characterisations by highlighting the personal woes of each female character. Poehler loses her job, Rudolph fears a voice message detailing the results of a blood test etc. etc. Yet these individual dramas never meshed together, and instead replicated the structure of a sitcom as opposed to a feature film. Whilst the acting was solid throughout and occasionally the lesser visual comedy made me smile, most notably due to Schwartzman’s involvement, concluding the film by sliding down a colossal hill was an unintentional crescendo of irony.
Wine Country resembles those ridiculously cheap bottles of rosé, or maybe Prosecco, that requires many glasses in order to intoxicate you. Y’know the ones you buy as gifts because you do not want to expend a fortune of money to an acquaintance. Yeah, them. Suitable as a background beverage at a chilled soirée, but should not be the main event.
