Barney’s Version (2010)

Directed by Richard J. Lewis. Starring Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Dustin Hoffman, Scott Speedman, Minnie Driver, Bruce Greenwood, Mark Addy, Rachel Lefevre, Jake Hoffman, Anna Hopkins, Thomas Trabacchi, Macha Grenon, Saul Rubinek, Harvey Atkin. [R]

Is is that the role is so perfectly suited for Paul Giamatti, you can’t imagine anyone else in it, or is that Paul Giamatti shapes any remotely suitable role (neurotic curmudgeons, most commonly) to his strengths, eccentricities, and (yes) limitations so it becomes a “Paul Giamatti character”? Having not read the source novel by Mordecai Richler, I cannot say, but Giamatti is the reason to watch this film version—not the only reason, mind, but still the reason—as a lifetime of bitter disappointment leavened by sharp periods of focus and pleasure plays out in the form of a lengthy flashback. Giamatti’s Barney Panofksy is a successful but talentless TV producer, thrice-married and divorced (or was he merely separated when wife number one died? can’t recall now), and who may or may not have accidentally murdered his disloyal best friend (Speedman). Never quite as humorous or insightful as it ought to be, the sour seriocomedy turns deadly serious toward the end, and never sorts out the point of the maybe-murder story thread. But if it comes up short as a soul-searcher, it’s a deliciously hollow (in a good way) character study with a wildly uneven stable of supporting players—Hoffman gets one of his better late-career roles as Barney’s only-sometimes-wise father who needs “to get laid”, but Minnie Driver is trapped with a shrill, spoiled Jewish Princess caricature. Canadian film industry fans rejoice: a handful of filmmakers from the Great White North make cameo appearances, including David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan, and Denys Arcand. The adult version of Barney’s son is played by Jake Hoffman, Dustin’s real-life son.

66/100