Main Cast: Rufus Sewell, Nigel Hawthorne, Minnie Driver, Amelia Heinle, Michael E. Rodgers
Release Year: 1998
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
Plot
Minnie Driver, her sister Kate Driver, and Nigel Hawthorne teamed as the executive producers of this $2.5 million romantic comedy about a mismatched couple. Writer-director John Huddles describes it as "a modern-day fable about what happens when your worldly ambition collides with the love of your life." At Satchem Farm in California's Simi Valley, an expatriate family of transplanted Brits includes maxim-mouthing Cullen (Hawthorne) and ambitious but bankrupt Ross (Rufus Sewell), a failed entrepreneur who plans to sell off his family's final remaining asset, their famed wine collection, in order to purchase an obsolete manganese mine. The manic Ross is engaged to his opposite, cool businesswoman Kendal (Minnie Driver), who succeeds where Ross fails. Kendal kindles her relationship with Ross -- while carrying the torch for someone else. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Review
Quiet and thoughtful, Uncorked is a theatrical-seeming bit of cinema that challenges the viewer to keep up with the ideas it presents. Too bad the scenario takes several wrong turns in reaching its conclusion; the resulting lack of focus makes the challenge of staying with it all the more tedious. Rufus Sewell, his tender eyes as big as a deer's, is well cast as the sensitive guitarist who abandoned music for a misguided career as a stock broker in an effort to keep his eccentric family afloat financially. Nigel Hawthorne is similarly well suited as zany Uncle Cullen, who intends to live the life of a mystic atop a white column at the family country estate. But Minnie Driver is a bit too shrewish as the wealthy cold fish fiancée who loves someone else. She's very good playing cold, but she gives little reason why Ross (Sewell) would find her attractive in the first place. The conclusion bears a few gentle surprises, but the film is not what is called a "big finisher." It's a small finisher that engages the emotions -- but just barely. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
Keone Young - Mr. Tang; Gregory Sporleder - Tom; Chalvay Srichoom - Cha
Credit
Junie Lowry-Johnson - Casting, Libby Goldstein - Casting, Justine Baddeley - Casting, Andrew Lauren - Co-producer, Laura Cunningham-Bauer - Costume Designer, John Huddles - Director, Dennis M. Hill - Editor, Sean Thompson - Editor, Nigel Hawthorne - Executive Producer, Minnie Driver - Executive Producer, Kate Driver - Executive Producer, William B. Steakley - Line Producer, Jeff Danna - Composer (Music Score), Rick Walken - Production Designer, Mark Vicente - Cinematographer, Daniel Grodnik - Producer, Robert Snukal - Producer, David Waelder - Sound/Sound Designer, John Huddles - Screenwriter
