Northern California's wine country becomes ground zero for satire in this mockumentary comedy. A handful of California vintners are vying for top honors in an upcoming wine competition, and three wine makers in particular are pulling out the stops in their effort to win. Wildly pretentious Donald Smyth (Ross Clendenen) runs the Moreno Russo Winery and wouldn't dream of visiting his vineyards in anything less than a designer suit, though he can't decide if the design of his headquarters is French or Italian. Gerry Hannon (Jeffrey Weissman) is a do-it-yourself kind of guy who prides himself on not allowing anyone else to put their hands on his product. Dane Phillips (Todd Norris) manages the vineyards for Pena Cellars and likes to show off his latest gadgets to help protect the grapes, even if they don't often work. Gary (Ben Tolpin) and Scott (Rob Reinis) are a pair of PR men who are been hired to help promote the contest and the winemakers, even though one is a recovering alcoholic who doesn't touch wine and the other prefers beer, the simpler the better. And Richard Parsons (Marte Mejstrik) is a self-centered wine critic who has come to judge the various entries. Corked was the first feature film from writers and directors Ross Clenenden and Paul Hawley; Clenenden also stars as Donald Smyth, and Hawley's family runs a real-life California wine company.
by Mark Deming
synopsis
