Review: Wine Country

Amy Poehler gathers a murderers' row of Saturday Night Live female alumnae for her directorial debut, Wine Country, an ode to female friendship, middle age, and just plain drinking wine.

Inspired by a real-life jaunt to Napa for Rachel Dratch's 50th birthday, the film centres around a weekend trip in Napa organised by Abby (Poehler) to celebrate her friend Rebecca's (Dratch) 50th birthday. Abby's idea isn't purely selfless: a control freak who's recently lost her job, the weekend is an opportunity for her to regain some control over her life by drawing up a minute-by-minute itinerary of the trip and making sure everyone has a good time. Rebecca isn't exactly keen on a big birthday blowout, but it is a chance to catch up with the women she's known since they bonded together as young waitresses at a Chicago pizza parlour so many years ago.

Aside from Abby and Rebecca, there's businesswoman Catherine (Ana Gasteyer), who's umbilically attached to her cellphone; Naomi (Maya Rudolph), relieved to be away from her four children and have some time for herself; Jenny (Emily Spivey), reluctantly roped into attending; and Val (Paula Pell), who jokes about "taking her new knees for a spin" and is looking for love. Tina Fey also shows up briefly to dispense some laughs as the owner of the luxurious rental property in which the women are ensconced.

There's no doubt that these women are all fine and often delightful company, and there is a certain amount of pleasure to be had in simply watching them have fun with one another. Yet it's appeal is also it's shortcoming - there isn't much else to the film other than watching these women go from one winery to the next, cracking wise, and occasionally traipsing through, as Fey's character puts it, "their haunted forest of toxic jibber jabber." Wine Country is obviously working in a different register than, say, Bridesmaids, but it would have been greatly appreciated if the narrative and the characters were more focused and clearly defined.

Wine Country

Directed by: Amy Poehler

Written by: Liz Cackowski, Emily Spivey

Starring: Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Paula Pell, Emily Spivey, Cherry Jones, Maya Erskine, Jason Schwartzman, Tina Fey