MovieChat Forums > Sideways (2004) Discussion > Did you find Cammi disgusting?

Did you find Cammi disgusting?

posted 4 years ago by Tonyharrison (176)
11 replies | jump to latest

I read an online review which summarises Cammi perfectly:

"Cammi isn’t a victim but is in some ways the most servile server, a cog in the system, a fat person who watches a lot of TV, the ugliest American, an ignoble and ignorable woman who doesn’t fit the pretty archetype or the picturesque wine country scenery. She’s the person who is almost always left out of conventional cinema, an Other whose highest aspiration is to sleep with a minor former celebrity from One Life to Live (and what a fitting title), referring to Jack only by his character’s name, Derek. Cammi reflects an instantly recognizable underclass in America, that most slovenly of poorly educated Hollywood bus tourists hanging out the windows and ogling stars’ homes, howling 'Hey, look, George Costanza!' at Jason Alexander."

https://brightlightsfilm.com/the-propagation-of-empathy-the-absence-of-bathos-on-alexander-paynes-sideways-2004/

[–] brux (14736) 4 years ago

I saw this movie so long ago I have no idea what you are talking about. You don't have a film clip do you. I remember liking this movie when I saw it, but looking back on it ... meh, not so memorable.

[–] Tonyharrison (176) 3 years ago

I don't know if the scene with Cammi and her husband is on YouTube but if it is, you'd probably need to log in as it would be age restricted!

[–] VanHellion (656) 4 years ago

Wow! I bet that author is a total blast at parties!

Damn, bruh - save some pussy for the rest of us!

[–] Rolltide (964) 3 years ago

Sure is sexist. Jack is engaged and cheating to beat the band but it is Cammi that is the problem.

Cammi cheated on her husband with a strange man she had just met. She had sex with him in her home. So very low life. But Jack was not forced to be with her though he acts like it is an obligation like a job.

Most of us have known Cammi types in college at work and we had our fun with them also. I'm not going to make hating her my religion.

[–] Tonyharrison (176) 3 years ago

It's a good point that Jack's no better than Cammi. I think it says a lot about class relations in that there are people with low moral values found across all classes but the middle/upper classes try to put on a facade of respectability.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

A bit snobbish, no? Says more about the writer than his targets.

And I love this line in the article:

"But the ground wire of Sideways is Giamatti’s near-legendary performance as our Prufrockian protagonist, a pervigilium man for the early oughts infused with a timbre of darkness;"

Say what?

[–] Tonyharrison (176) 3 years ago

Fair enough. I must have glossed over that line probably because it's so obscure (not to say pretentious now you've highlighted it). But I think the author had a point about what kind of people Cammi and her husband are. These are the sort of people who featured on Jerry Springer and make most people shudder.

[–] lemonhead1 (424) 3 years ago

I found her repulsive, but her husband was even worse!

[–] Rolltide (964) 3 years ago

Why? Her husband was not cheating on her.

[–] Tonyharrison (176) 3 years ago

I think in the book, they both accuse each other of multiple past instances of infidelity while bonking.

[–] TheArgentinian (7117) 10 months ago

I thought she was kind of cute. I know what the author means. He's not insulting her. He's insulting the way the movie uses her.