Drinking Buddies

Alcohol is a hell of a drug. Being a slave to it can lead to spoiled lives, but taking it like a cup of coffee can lead to some pretty interesting stories. But is watching a bunch of people pounding multiple pints everyday fun? Yes.

This piece is about “Drinking Buddies”, but let me take a second to talk about the 2004 classic “Sideways”. Alexander Payne’s Oscar winning picture revolutionized Pinot Noir in a certain area of California and got Virginia Madsen nominated for an Oscar for a spectacular monologue about wine and love. Thomas Hayden Church was nominated even though Giamatti stole the show by playing an obnoxious, pedantic loser who is somewhere in between being a sommelier and a drunk. It changed my life in terms of being realistic and knowing when to cut the dream and chase to be more pragmatic from a socioeconomic standpoint. But Sideways is extremely melancholic. It is very cinematic. Well, no shit. But I’m going to say that again; it is very cinematic. But I think sometimes it’s ok to keep it simple. It’s ok to put colloquialism on screen. Lastly, it’s ok to give a movie an Oscar when people are happy and have accepted a simple life.

Nothing happens in this movie. Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson play alcoholic middle schoolers working in a brewery who don’t express the attraction they have for each other even though they know they are soulmates. Beer plays a major role in facilitating conversation between the characters. Kind of like real life. But somehow “Drinking Buddies” is entertaining, fresh, and beautiful. If you think this film is dull, I respect the take. I understand there aren’t dramatic, poignant scenes like in “Sideways”. But why should life or movies be dramatic? Why can’t it just be a smooth zip line down that’s still really fun? In fact, it’s refreshing.

Joe Swanberg, the director of this movie, clearly loves beer and captures a series of mundane social events enhanced by a couple stouts exceptionally well. Anna Kendrick, Jason Sudeikis, and Ron Livingston play marginal roles so that the spotlight stays on the two main characters. And lastly, Ti West somehow went onto directing X, Pearl, and MaXXXine from a minor acting role. Super normal transition…

Enough about this movie…Actually wait, please check out this movie and appreciate it for what it is. Now, I want to talk about myself. I love alcohol. Yes, its pro cancer. It fucks with my sleep if I have it too late. Dr. Andrew Huberman says 2 drinks a week is the appropriate amount. Cool story Hubes. There’s nothing that beats the smell of that whiskey bottle when you open it. There’s nothing like the sound of cracking open a Sloop Juice Bomb when grilling. There’s nothing like sitting outside on a calm sunny day in October in New York and having the debate in your head whether to pair your cigar with a bourbon or a heavy coffee stout. As a man in my 30s I have completely cut out partying from my life. As an amateur endurance training enthusiast, sleep has become a crucial part of my life and hence my alcohol consumption has gone down significantly. But boy would I love to be somewhere between the ages of 27 and 30 again when I didn’t have to hit the sack somewhere between 8 and 10 pm every night. But until scientists invent a cure to completely get rid of hangovers and allow me to sleep for 8 hours after being blackout drunk, I’ll resort to watching these middle-aged people do things on screen I cannot.