I stuck with this movie because (1) I hoped to learn more about wine making (2) the photography was A+ and as a travelogue it was was enlightening.<br /><br />But almost every scene in California seemed to have been written by a teen-ager who knew only cute. Or perhaps someone wearing pink lensed glasses. Sweet is the word for this movie. Overly sweet. Saccharine. <br /><br />Ramshackle cars and trucks on their last legs trucks predominate, showing us that everyone is on their last nickle. A young girl-intern lives in a cabin right out of Hans Christian Anderson. The art director and whoever built the cabin must have been living out a childhood fairy tale. It was a perfect cabin, perched on a little hill-top, in the midst of miles of grape vines, under the heavenly blue sky usually seen on Hallmark greeting cards. Only Toto was missing.<br /><br />On the other hand the moment that Alan Rickman and Denis Farina get to work, I felt like they brought their own writer. Funny, intelligent, and engaging, most of their scenes were fine. Although someone thought that Farina wasn't quite enough of a character so he was constantly dressed in very noisy sport jackets, ones that may have been cut from some surplus horse blankets. -- More cuteness, I guess. Also, he's given an Elvis pompadour to wear -- Farina is a strong enough character on his own, he doesn't need any props to make him more than he is on his own. maybe the director is insecure or never learned that less is more. <br /><br />Everything in this movie is too cute and over sugared. There is the usual father-son conflict. There is actually a boxing ring set up on the verge of the vineyard so that Dad and son can go to it in the ring.I know you don't believe me--but you'll see it when you get to this film. <br /><br />The writers and directors must have been classmates at the California College of Cliché.