The only pass “Bottle Shock” gets is as a case study for business school. Husband-and-wife filmmakers Randall Miller and Jody Savin dramatize a Bicentennial year stunt, wherein a Paris wineseller staged a blind tasting of California and French wines. Zut alors! The Yanks won. The publicists list a separate contact for the “Food and Wine Press.” Writer Ross Schwartz grafts on a few fictitious characters and story branches, but even the non-fictitious ones seem prune-worthy. Will the spoiled loser surfer dropout (Chris Pine) do his dad proud? Will an unforeseen aerobic enzyme drive a Chardonnay-dreamer (Bill Pullman) back to his San Francisco law firm? Will the leggy blonde intern (Rachael Taylor)—who hitchhikes by flashing her breasts—split two best pals? Or will class friction spoil their rapport? Swooping crane and soaring helicopter shots over golden-hued vineyards ought to boost vino-tourism to the region. This is a feel-good, underdog, fun-to-swallow, self-congratulatory cultural skirmish to the tunes of The Doobie Brothers, America, Bad Company, Foghat and Nilsson. This hackneyed case of vino suffers the trip from a June 7, 1976 Time magazine piece to the screen. With Alan Rickman, Dennis Farina, Freddy Rodriguez and Eliza Dushku. (The title refers to the stress wine suffers in transit.) 108m. (Bill Stamets)
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