"Just remember guys, whatever gets said, it's probably what the person has always felt, and the alcohol just let it out," says Tina Fey's character as a gang of very funny women set out on a version Bridesmaids or Girls Trip but on a Napa Valley wine-tasting weekend.
That's the set-up for Wine Country, the new Netflix comedy premiering on Friday (May 10), directed by Amy Poehler, and starring Poehler, her IRL longtime friends Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey, as well as the equally funny Maya Rudolph, Paula Pell, and Ana Gasteyer. This powerhouse cast of SNL alumnae is backed up by Emily Spivey and Liz Cackowski, who also wrote the film, and the always hilarious Jason Schwartzman.
As Eater explains, via an interview with Dratch, the story is very loosely based on Dratch's actual 50th birthday party, which was spent on a wine country weekend — albeit in Sonoma, not Napa. The real-life party wasn't nearly as kooky or wild as the one in the movie, Dratch says, but there was one real-life thing that made it into the script, which involves a tarot card reading gone bad.
While Dratch's real birthday was spent at Alexander Valley Lodge, with stops at Longboard Vineyards and the Lady Gaga-approved Catelli's in Geyserville, the movie was shot primarily at Artesa Winery in Carneros, and at Quintessa in Calistoga.
And the movie is more about the comedy than it is about wine. As Variety says in its review, "'Sideways' this isn’t, seeing as the women show an almost hostile disinterest in learning anything about wine."
The movie already has a 75% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 reviews.
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