Wine snobs aren't the only hobbyists known for their exotic verbiage. Movie critics tend to flout the boundaries of language almost as frequently.

With that in mind, please accept the following appraisal of Alexander Payne's “Sideways”: full-bodied, slightly tipsy, with pleasant hints of middle-age male melancholia throughout.

Played by self-loather extraordinaire Paul Giamatti (“American Splendor”), amateur wine aficionado Miles Raymond stumbles through “Sideways” in various states of insobriety, and you can hardly blame the guy. An emotionally draining divorce and a closet full of unpublished novels have returned Miles to a youthful hand-to-mouth subsistence, sans the youth.

Kissing away his last shred of dignity, Miles swipes money out of his mother's underwear drawer to finance a guys- only wine-tasting trip with college buddy Jack (Thomas Haden Church of “Wings”), a fading TV actor set to be married at week's end.

The subsequent five days in Santa Barbara, Calif., find Jack getting the jump on his marriage vows with a hippie wine clerk (Sandra Oh) and Miles stewing in anxiety over his failed marriage and stalled writing career. Despite his sour mood, Miles manages to strike up a tentative romance with a friendly waitress (Virginia Madsen), but even that's tainted, built on a lie that he sold his latest novel.
Among today's elite filmmakers, perhaps only Payne (“About Schmidt,” “Election”) would view a man's slow decent into utter despair as an opportunity ripe for levity. And it works brilliantly, because his casting of Giamatti is flawless: You can literally see the frustration and futility bubble up in the actor's shlumpy features; when it explodes, the results more frequently than not are gut-clutchingly funny.

Wine insider or no, you have to laugh when Miles — irritated by Jack's skirt-chasing and furious at life in general — launches into a profanity- laced tirade at the mere suggestion of ordering a bottle of Merlot.

Comic misery certainly isn't all “Sideways” is selling. First and foremost, it's a touching and insightful study into the oft-times dual nature of friendship. Miles and Jack view life from opposite ends of the neurotic spectrum, and in this contrast, Payne and co-screenwriter Jim Taylor reveal a bittersweet landscape of failure, loneliness and age.

Haden Church makes a perfect foil for Giamatti; with his slightly bimbofied, sun-addled air, he neutralizes the bitter, feisty Miles like a splash of sugar water.

Though its sentiments are universal, “Sideways” — adapted from Rex Pickett's novel — will certainly find a special place in the collective heart of wine lovers. When Miles explains to Madsen's character that he prefers Pinot Noir because the grape is difficult to grow and not a “survivor,” we see instantly that he's talking about himself, too — a plea for understanding, coded in the language of his own, palate-sensitive obsession.