Judging from the movie’s trailer, I didn’t really intend to see “Barney’s Version,” about a hard-drinking, cigar-smoking slouch of a television producer who marries three times in life, but since it’s set in Montreal (O Canada!) and stars Paul Giamatti, I wound up going to check it out. I wasn’t disappointed; it’s a small gem of a film and one of Giamatti’s best performances. Some say it doesn’t live up to the 1997 novel it’s based on by Mordecai Richler, but I haven’t read the novel just yet, so I can’t compare the different “versions,” other than to say “Barney’s” an entertaining and moving movie.
Beware though it has more drinking and smoking in it than I’ve seen in a flick in a long, long time. Giamatti’s character, the tubby Barney Panofsky, is rarely without either; he is as unhealthy as he is blunt-speaking but amusing, too. The movie spans his adult life with his clan of artist friends then as he marries crazy wife #1, then obnoxious wife #2, only to fall in love with perfect wife #3 at the previous wedding.
He’s a messy, at times jerky character but not without redeeming qualities. The movie grows poignant especially in the second half as Barney settles down with wife #3, his true love (played by the up-and-coming British actress Rosamund Pike) and has a family. It’s no wonder Giamatti received a Golden Globe for the film, he is amazing in the role. It’s a movie that sort of sneaks up on you (with Dustin Hoffman, too, as the endearing father). By the end, I found it quite touching what happens to Barney, and on the whole enjoyed the Montreal, Canada, aspect of it. The movie’s a pleasing thumbs up.
ps. See Paul Giamatti’s acceptance speech for the award he won for it at the Golden Globes here.
