Sour Grapes |  | Actors: Denise Bessette, Craig Bierko, Jack Burns (II), Scott Erik, Fred Goehner
Studio: Turner Home Ent
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy Used: $0.47
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Seller: inflatable-madness
Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 72895
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 92 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0780623274
UPC: 053939253221
EAN: 9780780623279
ASIN: 0780623274
Theatrical Release Date: April 17, 1998
Release Date: June 22, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Even Seinfeld fans will probably shun this dreadful, nasty-hearted film by Seinfeld cocreator and writer Larry David. It's a tepid comedy about cousins--Richie (Craig Bierko) and Evan (Steven Weber)--who enter into a feud after one borrows two quarters from the other while on a vacation in Atlantic City, and then wins a $400,000 jackpot, which he refuses to share. His action fuels retaliation and one-upmanship that results in death, racism, and a general bad taste in the mouth (you'll have to see the film to figure that one out). Sour Grapes is a misanthropic movie about cheapness that's supposed to be clever in its play on the "Jewishness" that permeated Jerry Seinfeld's hit TV series. But it doesn't gel here, and the movie is full of more self-loathing than one might care to admit. It also introduces several subplots that go nowhere. All in all, its TV mentality doesn't translate to feature film. --Paula Nechak
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
 i say view for yourself! December 28, 2009
HONDA (CHICAGO, IL United States)
look i thought the comedy was funny it had me laughing as well
so,it depends on the humor funny bone of the viewer the plot is this:
cousin gives his cousin two measly QUARTERS in a vegas and flips it almost to a half
a million would you ask for half or be obligated to split 50/50? since it was your two quarters anyway? what would you do?! and the plot is buit around the that senario into a riot laughable film in my opinon i say rent it first. i bought it already,but to each his own on veiwership perspective is what i say.
After Taste September 3, 2009
Mark J. Owens (Little Ellison Wonderland)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When was the last time you went to your local supermarket, picked up the struff you just had to have? Were you able to walk past that display of fresh grapes, clearly imagine what they would taste in your mouth, without buying a bunch? No? That is what happened with this movie SOUR GRAPES.
I love the prior works of Larry David who was the real driving force behind the first years of the legendary SEINFELD tv series. So, when I was in the process of tracking down the DVD sets of Larry's wonderful CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM cable tv series
(even funnier tha SEINFELD I think), I strumbled upon his movie SOUR GRAPES. I just couldn't resist it, since he not only wrote it, he even directed it. In my mind, I could taste it and was sure it would be great. I was wrong.
Would I recommend it as a curiosity to fans of Larry David? Sure, but it comes across as a flat pilot for a would be tv series. Too long, bad script and lack luster directing. And I still can't figure out how Larry David blew it, since it was given life by one of the funniest and original men in the field of comedy. I just wanted to love it to death, but after viewing it, I was left with a sour
taste in my mind. Nuff said.
Perhaps too much Larry David to handle February 17, 2008
George Graham (Los Angeles, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
In the year 1996, at the end of the 7th season of the hit show he helped create, SEINFELD, Larry David went and made a movie called SOUR GRAPES that showcased similarly neurotic characters dealing with taboo subjects in a comical (albeit politically incorrect) way. It was greeted with a beyond-bashing by critics, the coup de gras Roger Ebert's zero star review, where he claimed he could not remember a movie he disliked as much as this one. Ebert admits to really enjoying David's brilliant CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM on HBO, however, and I can only assume SEINFELD as well. So what happened in Larry's first and possibly last foray into film? Is it really that bad?
Well, no. The film is nowhere near as good as either of Larry's shows, and that can be attributed to many factors. First, his kind of comedy is very episodic, so once it is put into a full-length film, something is lost in translation. Also, the leads are essentially playing Larry/Jerry Seinfeld/George Costanza/Cosmo Kramer kind of hybrids, so there is a sense of perhaps tired familiarity to the whole thing, and also, when people act like Larry David that aren't Larry David, it can be off-putting; yes, George and Jerry pulled it off, but they had teams of writers and such to help perhaps weed out the sheer neurotic nature of David. In other words, this is Larry David at full pessimistic tilt; nobody acts morally right, as there is trickery and cruelty coming out the ears, all because of something extremely trivial.
Anyway, the plot screams SEINFELD/CURB/Larry David: cousins Evan (Steven Weber, from WINGS and various films) and Richie (Craig Bierko, who I have only seen elsewhere in SCARY MOVIE 4 as the Tom Cruise-esque character) head to Atlantic City with their girlfriends for some gambling and hotel sex. Once there, the down-on-their-luck duo try the slot machines, where Evan recommends Richie use 3 coins and not just 1, leading to him lending Richie 2 quarters. Richie wins the jackpot with these quarters, over $436,000, and Evan now feels he is owed at least half of these earnings (2/3 if you want to get technical) because 2 of those 3 coins Richie won with were Evan's. Richie is appalled by the idea, thus setting up a series of cruel jokes, misunderstandings, and CURB/SEINFELD-esque mishaps where Evan and Richie end up without girlfriends and their sanity.
As far as I can tell, critics not only hated the delivery but the material itself. However, this sort of content has been explored very similarly in Larry's other mediums, much more successfully I admit. So it is not that Larry David is not a brilliant guy, but perhaps that he cannot direct his own jokes (strange, I know, but Larry has not directed anything else but this). Like I said, maybe this movie is too much Larry David for one to handle. Without someone else to smooth out the neuroses, you are left with purely unlikable characters doing selfish, appalling things. However, that can be funny and often is here, and I truly believe that the pros outweigh the cons (like a few failed concepts, chief among them the fact that Richie can give himself oral sex... uh huh). So yes, many jokes fall flat, the so-called protagonists are real pieces of work, and in the end, this is not Larry David's finest hour by a long shot, but SOUR GRAPES is pretty good. Preeeety, preeeettty, preeeeetttty, pretty good.
 very freakin' funny! November 25, 2007
S. Bernard (Mesa, AZ)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
SPOILERS BEWARE*****
I don't know why this movie is so maligned- on imdb it gets only 5.4 out of 10. I LIKE this movie a lot. It's funny, it's very accurate in regards to human nature- people do DO this kind of stupid stuff all the time. And the irony in this movie is hilarious!
In this movie one of the 2 cousins wins a jackpot on a slot machine in Atlantic City. The one playing the machine was originally playing only 1 quarter at a time. His friend & cousin tells him that the only way to go is at least 3 quarters. 2 pulls later, he's down to only 1 quarter--- he asks his cousin, "you got 2 quarters, I'm out." He gives them to him and then on the next pull of the handle, JACKPOT- over 400,000 dollars.
Does he owe his cousin any money? That is the question that drives the plot of this movie. And the predicaments they get into are truly funny and their behavior is so true to real life that it's great.
All the performances are fun and funny- especially Weber and Bierko. The used merchants sell this DVD for around $[2-5]... give it a try, I think you'll like it.
Oh, and I think this is WAY funnier than "Curb your Enthusiasm!"
Lightweight entertainment September 7, 2006
RMurray847 (Albuquerque, NM United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Larry David of SEINFELD fame made his directing and filmwriting debut with SOUR GRAPES, and you can sure tell it came from the mind that conjured that TV classic (and would later star in the unbelievably funny CUR B YOUR ENTHUSIASM). It takes a nasty "little" situation and makes it into a huge mess.
Two cousins/best friends (Steven Weber from "WINGS" and Craig Bierko) take their girlfriends for a weekend in Atlantic City. Bierko borrows a couple of quarters from Weber, puts them in his slot machine, and hits the jackpot. Weber believes Bierko should split the winnings, since no jackpot would have been won if he hadn't given the quarters. Bierko says, "Hey, it was my machine. Here's your 50 cents." Weber decides to get revenge. Bierko gets revenge for the revenge. And so on. And being a Larry David piece...you just know things won't turn out for the best.
My problem with the movie: It feels and looks just like a TV movie. It's 90 minutes long, but feels at least 20 minutes too long. It's just not enough fun for a whole movie. Weber and Bierko are fine...not great, but okay.
So it is sporadically entertaining, and if you like Seinfeld, you'll enjoy the similarities of plot structure and dialogue. Characters often engage in observations about everyday items, completely apropos of nothing. David himself makes a cameo appearance in an amusing tupee.
But it gets flat towards the end...there just isn't enough here. If you can rent the film, you'll find it's a pleasant diversion. But that's all. Thank goodness David went on to divert us with his brilliant HBO show. One episode of that has 10 times the laughs of SOUR GRAPES. For fans only.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 25
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