Review
Uncorked (Drama) (2020)
Director: Prentice Penny
Writers: Prentice Penny
Stars: Mamoudou Athie, Sasha Compère, Robert Cox, Courtney B. Vance
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With an extensive repertoire of producer credits on series like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Scrubs and Insecure, along with being listed as a writer on other series like Girlfriends and Happy Endings. Prentice Penny is now ready to make his feature film debut with Uncorked, an Internet release from early 2020.
Main character Elijah (Mamoudou Athie) has dreams of becoming a sommelier, a dream that isn’t necessarily supported by his father who owns a small BBQ restaurant, inherited for his father looking to hand it over to Elijah just like his father did to him.
Uncorked feels different enough to make it stand out from other similar movies in the past. As someone who loves movies that focus on food/restaurant themes I looked forward to this film since I discovered it and I’m happy to say it won’t disappoint, it’s a well thought through and well-structured film about an African-American family holding their own with their self-owned Memphis BBQ joint. Focusing mainly on the relationship of Elijah and his father, some characters fall away a bit as the storyline focuses more on Elijah and his direct contacts like his girlfriend and classmates.
Even though I’m far from a wine expert, the information about wine throughout the movie is real, or as similar as it can be, even the wines that are mentioned can actually be bought commercially, just a very neat thing to see. It also gives wine lovers a little bit of a chance for a drink-along. Prentice Penny went the extra mile in delivering this movie.
There aren’t a lot of negative’s here, it’s a somewhat straight forward movie but still manages to surprise in the end with some subtle notes making it differ from the standard. One of the few things that slightly bothered me were some minor inconsistencies in dialogue. In a particular scene, Elijah’s father was talking about making it a possibility for Elijah to ‘’Do his wine thing’’ in a new building he bought to expand the restaurant to which Elijah responded asking his father if he remembered that he was studying to be a Sommelier… It’s a small annoyance, and most won’t notice it, but it did happen more than once. Mostly positive about Uncorked I would love to see some sort of director’s cut, as with the dialogue inconsistencies also came some skips in time, missing some connectivity to some scenes. Where in other films you could fill it in yourself, and that’d be fine, you could do the same here, but some added scenes could improve the movie and make it feel more wholesome and better than it already is.
The negatives don’t leave a sour taste in your mouth. However, the wine could if you’re immersing yourself fully and drinking the wines featured in the film, after this film I certainly look forward to what Prentice Penny does next, and if it’s a film I’m one hundred percent sure I don’t want to miss it.
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Verdict
I’d crack open this bottle as soon as it’s suggested.
8.2
