A movie about wine? In California? Really? I thought we covered this topic with "Sideways" a few years ago. Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church already did all they could for that idea, or so I thought. Then I went and caught "Bottle Shock," an independent gem, on the big screen.

Our tale is based on the story of the epic "Judgment of Paris" in 1976. Everybody back then knew that quality wine came from France. It had always been that way, and it always would be that way, right? "Bottle Shock" begins when a lonely American in Paris informs his connoisseur friend that California wines are starting to attract some real attention. Skeptically, this snooty wine critic (played by the legendary Alan Rickman) takes a trip to California in order to gather some competition for a blind taste-test with France's greatest wine experts. He ends up meeting the offbeat California wine makers and samples America's finest wines.

But this offbeat comedy does not focus solely only 1970s wine industry; it also references the age's counterculture and, oddly, the American Dream. A lot of American wine makers had a simple dream to make damn good wine right here in the States. Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) quit his job as a big-time corporate lawyer to pursue his dream of making the world's best chardonnay. Jim and his son Bo Barrett (played by the electric Chris Pine) are two of these aforementioned dreamers who produce some of California's finest. I'll leave the plot at that since its intricate twists and turns are just too fun to spoil.

Part of an independent film's fun derives from off-beat casting and unorthodox story-telling methods. Let me first say that the cast is fantastic. Anybody worth their salt knows that Freddy Rodriguez (who plays an assistant at the Barrett winery) is a rising star in Hollywood, but let's not forget Eliza Dushku, Rachael Taylor and a brief cameo by Bradley Whitford (one of my favorite actors). All play their roles with gravitas and a real sense of who these people were back in the late '70s.

Every character is very flawed but in the same respect very real. Pullman does a great job playing the down-and-out Jim Barrett and brings weight to feeling like a failure (maybe with a twinge of his own fizzled Hollywood career). Rickman is the embodiment of snooty, and unsurprisingly, he does not disappoint in "Bottle Shock." However, the real star of this flick is Pine, who's acted in "Just My Luck" with Lindsay Lohan and played a bit part in the sensational "Smokin' Aces." Pine is a great actor who finally landed a role he could really own. His depiction of the dazed and confused Bo is a real delight, and Pine depicts one of the most touching "quarter-life crises" on film.

"Bottle Shock" is a real independent film and a dark horse candidate for my favorite movie of the summer. The great story and superb casting really make it shine and bring this story of the American dream to life. My advice: decanter it, let it breathe and then drink down the perfect recipe of "Bottle Shock."

"Bottle Shock" is playing at Green Hills.