“Barney’s Version” is about the everyday politics of marriage and the film version of Mordecai Richler’s 1997 novel acknowledges the mess of it all. Paul Giamatti (who won a Golden Globe for his work here) is the right man to play Barney, short-tempered and penitent, sarcastic and vicious by turns. He fearlessly dives into Barney’s character although we don’t always understand what makes Barney tick. The problem with adapting a book to film is that the book gets into the head of a complicated man while the film merely observes him. Dustin Hoffman has some choice scenes as Barney’s father, Izzy, a retired Montreal cop with an eye for the ladies. Rosamund Pike shines as the third Mrs. Panofsky, a warm personality that contrasts with the over-the-top caricatures provided by Minnie Driver, as the second, and Rochelle Lefevre, as the suicidal first.
Directed by Richard J. Lewis from a script by Michael Konyves, Barney is one of the big wheels of Montreal television, the producer of a long-running soap opera. He’s devoted to alcohol, cigars and hockey and a believer in a soul mate. The film tells his marital resume via flashbacks, beginning with Barney as a young man in 1974 hanging out in Rome with his friends, then in and out of his first marriage. When he returns to Montreal, he meets the love of his life (Pike) at his wedding to the second (Driver). After spending over two hours with Barney, we never get a clear picture of him and as a result, there’s a total lack of an emotional impact by the end of the film. 1/17/11
Barney's Version is a film that doesn't want to be liked. The characters are developed in such a way as to make you dislike them, especially Barney. He goes along alienating everyone he meets and then self-distructs his marriage with a woman he truly loves. I kept asking myself "where is this movie going"? Poor Barney!
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