Wine Country is Amy Poehler’s directorial debut; a Netflix film about friendship, getting older and wine. Lots and lots of wine. It’s Bridesmaids meets The Hangover meets This is 40; a light and breezy movie about a group of friends that take a trip to celebrate a milestone birthday.
Movies like Wine Country that are driven by friendships often spark something in audiences that they want to relate to. Because who doesn’t want close-knit friendships just like in the movies? Especially when said group of friends get to go somewhere as great as Napa Valley. With that in mind, here are ten of the most relatable quotes from Wine Country.
10. “Whatever gets said, it’s probably what the person has always felt. And the alcohol just let it out”
One of the best lines in the film is highlighted in the trailer and acts as a warning to the friendship group as they embark on their weekend trip. This comes from Tina Fey’s Tammy, the owner of the group’s holiday home.
Hilariously dry, Tammy is responsible for lots of the movie’s great lines and this one is something we all need to pay attention to. Because more often than not, if you try and take your friends away for a boozy weekend, it’s likely something will come out that you didn’t mean it to!
9. “I’m going to follow her and offer her some feedback:
More often than not movies that are driven by friendship are going to include something of a falling out. There’s a running joke throughout Wine Country that these situations can be rectified by the offering - and acceptance - of feedback. But as with life - that’s not entirely the case.
This is something we can all relate to because when asked, most people are going to say that they’re capable of sorting out their problems in a calm and collected manner. But in reality, when presented with feedback, the characters of Wine Country respond exactly how everyone else would - with harsh sarcastic words.
8. “I feel like I’m about to take umbrage”
One of the key themes in Wine Country is growing up and understanding that other people are of a different age to you - something no more obvious than in a sequence where a bunch of millennials are gathered at a friend's art show. The irony of the artwork becomes too much for our group of heroes who then confront the artist and her friends.
When Amy Poehler’s Abby makes one particularly unpleasant remark, someone exclaims that she’s about to take umbrage. In this instance, we’re relating to Abby because who isn’t exasperated by people who are able adopt a calm and collected tone when they’re offended instead of the loud and brash response we’ll immediately jump to.
7. “If I prep a full size pizza, guess what? I’m going to eat a full size pizza”
It’s often seen within smaller budget films that characters are far more relatable than the action stars or superheroes in your typical blockbuster. And Wine Country is no different; it gives us several characters that are really easy to fall in love with.
This line is one of Tina Fey’s most relatable. Because surely everyone, when faced with a full-size pizza, is going to eat the whole thing.
6. “No Sweet Home Alabama”
No offense to Lynyrd Skynyrd, but come on, enough is enough. While some see Sweet Home Alabama as a quintessential party song, the cast of Wine Country know better. In one of the most human moments of the film, Abby and Jenny (Emily Spivey) are choosing songs so the group can continue their party after getting in late from a bar.
This is such a relatable moment as every friendship group has a playlist of go-to songs and tunes they avoid that are unique to them. This plays a big part of Wine Country as the group listen to lots of music throughout which becomes the audiences soundtrack as well.
Plus, they’re in Wine Country, not the Heart of Dixie.
5. “If you, or anyone around you starts a sentence with ‘can I just say...’ stop right there”
Tammy (Tina Fey) is the Yoda of the whole piece, dispensing advice throughout the movie. One of her more memorable knowledge bombs is about inter-friendship adversity and ‘telling it like it is.’ Stopping when you start a sentence with ‘can I just say’ is sage advice and plays a role throughout the movie as the friendships are tested by each character’s personal fears and hang-ups.
And it goes without saying that it’s great advice. Next time you want to ‘just say something,’ you’ll probably be better off stopping right there.
4. “Sure, sometimes I want to tell this one to f**k off - that’s what intimacy looks like!”
One of the best things about Wine Country is that right off the bat, you know this group of friends are close and have been for a really long time. In their exchange with the younger art lovers, Amy Poehler’s Abby describes their friendship in the most relatable way.
True friendship isn’t the fake, Instagram-tagging connections that these millennials represent, it’s something that goes far beyond that. Here, Abby shows us what we want to see in our friendships - the ability to tell them to f**ck off without them getting offended, because they know that we love them.
3. “Once you’ve looked in the eyes of a raccoon - you know your truth”
Okay, so maybe this one isn’t incredibly relatable but it represents the emotional turning point of Rachel Dratch’s character, Rebecca who’s turning the big Five-O. That is, of course, unless you’ve looked into the eyes of a raccoon - in which case, it probably is relatable. And you probably know your truth.
In this moment, Rebecca realizes a lot about herself and this is something a lot of us can relate to. Every so often, something happens which knocks us into gear and helps us come to terms with our own hang-ups and how we can better ourselves.
2. “Life is too short to wait for Paella”
Because amiright?! So much of this film is driven by the passage of time and the characters’ comprehension of their age and life status. And what better culinary dish to compare to that than Paella?
Not an important plot point, but a symbolic one, Jason Schwartzman is seen preparing the Spanish staple in a comically large paella dish. Even though he cooks it right through the night, it’s still not ready in the morning. This is what prompts this brilliant line from Paula Pell’s Val, marking a really important understanding as the group leave for Rebecca’s surprise party - a sequence that acts as the apex of the movie’s emotional arc.
1. “Things we say now”
Within friendship groups, there are always inside jokes and quirks unique to them. In Wine Country, this is ‘things we say now’ a phrase used whenever a member of the group says something that shows how getting older has changed them, reflecting their now middle-aged concerns.
And like any good friendship-driven movie, this is one of those inside jokes that could quite easily find its way being used IRL by a group of friends who feel they relate to the cast.