2010
M
Contains offensive language and sexual references.
The true story of one man's life depends on who tells it.
Golden Globe winner Paul Giamatti stars as Barney Panofsky, a Jewish Canadian television producer who reflects in flashbacks on three strange decades -- and three wives -- in this adaptation of Mordecai Richler's acclaimed novel. There's Clara (Rachelle Lefevre), a free-spirited proponent of free love; "Mrs. P" (Minnie Driver), a self-centered princess; and Miriam (Rosamund Pike), the right woman who comes along at the wrong time.
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Reviewer: Aaron Yap
Date Added: 13 Nov 2011
Aaron's Rating:3.0
Having not read Mordecai Richler’s 1997 novel, which Barney’s Version is adapted from, I can’t quite comment on or compare specifics. But this long, glossily mounted tearjerker exhibits all the usual problems with paring down 400 pages into an orderly feature film; with its time-jumping flashbacks, and uneven tonal balance that struggles to combine soapy melodrama, romantic comedy and murder mystery, this initially engrossing but progressively rambling and schmaltzy film is mostly carried by a set of fine, if not exceptional performances. Liking Paul Giamatti’s now-familiar rumpled-sadsack schtick also goes a long way to making the film somewhat palatable: Barney’s Version is full-bore Giamatti for 132 minutes. Jewish-Canadian TV producer Barney Panofsky is the Giamatti Standard: the puppy-dog-faced-jerk-whom-you-hate-but-grow-to-love-but-still-kind-of-hate, a hopelessly romantic curmudgeon who’s gone through three marriages before an onset of Alzheimer’s cuts him down. The film views his tumultuous life with generation-spanning sprawl (wigs!) which it can’t quite sustain; nevertheless there are several vignettes to savour: Panofsky’s initial swoonsome meeting with the gleaming, doll-like Rosamund Pike at his wedding to loud-mouthed affluent socialite Minnie Driver, or his touching, often amusing relationship with beat-cop father Dustin Hoffman (delightfully scene-stealing).
