Mmmmm. Robust. Tannens are on point. A little apricot aftertaste. Now lets pair that wine with….rib tips and French hip hop? That dichotomy makes Uncorked watchable in spite of the well worn story it is telling. Having Courtney B. Vance, Niecy Nash, and Mamoudou Athie on hand helps make Uncorked pop too. Sorry I fused soda and wine puns. Feeling lazy today.
Like all great sommelier stories, this one starts in Memphis Tennessee at a BBQ stand. Just go with it. Louis (Courtney B. Vance) and Sylvia (Niecy Nash) run this successful business, hoping to pass it down to their son Elijah (Mamoudou Athie). Elijah, as you’re guessing immediately, doesn’t have a desire to smoke meats: his part time job in a liquor store has given him a zest for the vino. With the urging of his new girlfriend Tanya (Sasha Compère), Elijah works on getting a master sommelier degree, though mom and dad might night be too keen on Elijah’s latest fancy.
For an indie movie, this story should sound familiar to everyone: shy kid with interest in something other than what family wants has to confront family with truth. Where this movie throws you off is the choice of profession and the people inhabiting the story. Black sommeliers sound like a punchline to a culturally offensive joke an asshole friend would make. However, writer director Prentice Penny uses that cultural tug of war to keep the viewers’ attention by constant messing with the beats of the story. Transitions are hip hop music, but not just American; the hip hop changes to French as Elijah goes to learn in Paris. After an elegant wine tasting, we go skating at the local roller rink. At mac and cheese/collard greens/fried chicken dinner, we have an elegant Napa based oaked Chardonnay to wash it all down. Penny’s directorial hand can best be seen with how subtly everything fits together. That Chardonnay metioned above? Taken in stride by the middle class black family, who likes new wine experiences. The strangeness of the situation simply isn’t that for the characters in this movie, which helps maintain momentum as we don’t have endless scenes of a confused group of people around Elijah as he explains wine to them.
Also helping Penny tell her story is a group of actors who work around some of the story’s cliches. Mamoudou Athie isn’t a household name, but everything he’s acted in he’s usually pretty solid. Given the chance to shine here, he does, carrying Elijah with that timid determination to sommelier but genuine desire to do right by his family at the same time. Courtney B. Vance, consummate pro, elevates Louis out of the obvious “disappointed parent” archetype and makes him more interesting by simply showing his emotions reservedly instead of yelling or crying them out. He might be disappointed in Elijah’s choices, but he’s not destroyed by them. Niecy Nash also gets a chance to show how great she is playing a new version of the mom we all we wish we had.
Uncorked is a good date night or stuck at home on a Friday night because of a pandemic family movie. It’s not gonna shatter the planet with what it’s saying, but it’s a lot of relatively unknown talent showing their stuff, while we’re reminded how awesome BBQ and wine are. Damn it; now I have to go get a pork shoulder sandwich with a Moscato to sweetly wash it down. Mmmmm, pork shoulder Moscato….