It’s fun when you describe a movie to someone, and mention two other films it reminds you of. This reminds me of Hot Tub Time Machine meets Wine Country. Hot Tub was a surprisingly funny Seth Rogen stoner comedy, and Wine Country had women from Saturday Night Live going to wine tastings.
I’ll admit, I was a tad biased going into this film, because I’m friends with one of the stars of it. He’s a local actor and critic named Lance Carter (his performance locally in The Producers as ex-Nazi Franz Liebkind was amazing).
A former San Diegan and USD law student, Raeann Giles (Playdates Anonymous, Stay at Home Mom), wrote, directed and stars in this touching, humorous story about a woman doing a podcast about her pregnancy. Early on, she loses the baby. Years later, we see her and her girlfriends going to a wine tasting out of town. There’s a bartender that doesn’t serve them an expensive bottle, which they steal. Drinking it sends them back in time, before they were married. And shenanigans ensue. I won’t tell you more, because those would be spoilers, and you really should see this movie and discover the joy, laughter, and sadness for yourself (hey…they should put that line on the movie poster).
There was so much I enjoyed about this film. For example, a clever gender reveal, where nothing blew up and nobody was hurt. I enjoyed the fact that as the women were drinking wine and gossiping, they seemed like real people, not actors reading from a script. I like that the script was littered with great lines like: “I’m not good at life lessons” or a woman wanting to have kids and saying “my eggs are cob-webbing right now” or a woman named Jane who pronounces it “Ja-Nay.”
I’ve grown tired of multiverse stories, but this was one I could get behind. None of the characters are annoying, and sometimes in stories like this, you wonder why they’d hang around with one of the women. That’s not the case here, and it’s refreshing.
Perhaps the only flaws I found with this picture is that things got a bit redundant at times; oh, and the title. It should have been called “Birthday Buddies and the Bartender” or something a bit more intriguing than “Angel.”
I also thought the little girl, as adorable as she was, read her lines a bit too fast. Although finding out that’s Raeann’s real daughter at the end – made me glad she was cast in the role.
When you see the closing credits, and you find out how this movie was inspired and see the real home movies – be prepared to have a box or two of Kleenex at the ready.
3 stars out of 5.