Barney's Version
Comedy-drama about the life and times of Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti, in a Golden Globe winning performance). Based on Mordecai Richler's prize-winning novel. Also stars Dustin Hoffman, Rosamund Pike and Minnie Driver.
A candid confessional, the film spans three decades and two continents, taking us on a tour-de-force of Barney's passions and unusual history. There is his first wife (Rachelle Lefevre, Twilight), a flame-haired, flagrantly unfaithful free sprit with whom Barney briefly lives la vie de Boheme in Rome. The Second Mrs. Panofsky (Driver) is a wealthy Jewish Princess who shops and talks incessantly, barely noticing that Barney is not listening. And it's at their wedding that Barney meets, and starts pursuing, Miriam (Pike), his third wife, the mother of his two children, and his true love. Hoffman is Barney's sidekick and father, Izzy.
- Director:
- Richard J. Lewis (TV's 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation')
- Writer:
- Michael Konyves
- Cast:
- Paul GiamattiRosamund PikeDustin HoffmanMinnie DriverRachelle LefevreScott Speedman
Reviews & comments
Flicks, Aaron Yap
flicksSolid film with excellent performances
Appropriately, for a film very much about the passage of time, Richard J. Lewis' Barney's Version takes its time getting its hooks into you. Detailing the adult life of Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti), the film is a slow-paced and melancholic reflection piece, a character study of memory and how our interaction with the past leads us to the present. It's...
Darkly funny and surprisingly emotional melodrama - the best kind!
Giamatti is stunning as the lead in this excellent Canadian melodrama with epic sweep, great poignancy, and dark humour. Dustin Hoffman gives his most truthful and likeable performance in years as the father, and while there are moments in the plot that stretch credibility, you are, on the whole, carried joyfully along in the the wild undertow that is...
Variety
pressThe dizzying comic energy and intellectual vigor of Mordecai Richler's 1997 satire have largely been drained from director Richard J. Lewis' agreeable but inevitably lesser version of "Barney's Version"...
Total Film
pressThe life of a guy who constantly screws up could be a downer. But Barney’s Version is a heart-toasting pleasure thanks not least to a trio of engrossing performances.
The New York Times
pressIn spite of Mr. Giamatti's ferociously energetic performance Barney's Version never figures out just who Barney is.
Roger Ebert
pressGiamatti's performance is one of those achievements. He is making a career of playing unremarkable but memorable men.
Otago Daily Times
pressBarney's Version provides a window into a surreal life, filmer reviewer Mark Orton says.
Los Angeles Times
pressWhatever the film's flaws, and like its protagonist, there are times when things get a bit out of control, watching Giamatti use Barney to wrestle with success, failure, friendship, love and increasingly with time is exhilarating.
Hollywood Reporter
pressHighly entertaining and arguably the most satisfying Richler screen adaptation to date.
Empire Magazine
pressWhile perhaps a touch overlong and with plot strands that don't hang together as well as they might, this is remains a triumph, illuminated by a terrific leading man turn from Paul Giamatti.
A.V. Club
pressThe film, lacking narration or much explanation of the character, is an outsider's version rather than his own. It's intriguing, but almost always frustrating.
Flicks, Aaron Yap
flicksVariety
pressThe dizzying comic energy and intellectual vigor of Mordecai Richler's 1997 satire have largely been drained from director Richard J. Lewis' agreeable but inevitably lesser version of "Barney's Version"...
Total Film
pressThe life of a guy who constantly screws up could be a downer. But Barney’s Version is a heart-toasting pleasure thanks not least to a trio of engrossing performances.
The New York Times
pressIn spite of Mr. Giamatti's ferociously energetic performance Barney's Version never figures out just who Barney is.
Roger Ebert
pressGiamatti's performance is one of those achievements. He is making a career of playing unremarkable but memorable men.
Otago Daily Times
pressBarney's Version provides a window into a surreal life, filmer reviewer Mark Orton says.
Los Angeles Times
pressWhatever the film's flaws, and like its protagonist, there are times when things get a bit out of control, watching Giamatti use Barney to wrestle with success, failure, friendship, love and increasingly with time is exhilarating.
Hollywood Reporter
pressHighly entertaining and arguably the most satisfying Richler screen adaptation to date.
Empire Magazine
pressWhile perhaps a touch overlong and with plot strands that don't hang together as well as they might, this is remains a triumph, illuminated by a terrific leading man turn from Paul Giamatti.
A.V. Club
pressThe film, lacking narration or much explanation of the character, is an outsider's version rather than his own. It's intriguing, but almost always frustrating.
Solid film with excellent performances
Appropriately, for a film very much about the passage of time, Richard J. Lewis' Barney's Version takes its time getting its hooks into you. Detailing the adult life of Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti), the film is a slow-paced and melancholic reflection piece, a character study of memory and how our interaction with the past leads us to the present. It's...
Darkly funny and surprisingly emotional melodrama - the best kind!
Giamatti is stunning as the lead in this excellent Canadian melodrama with epic sweep, great poignancy, and dark humour. Dustin Hoffman gives his most truthful and likeable performance in years as the father, and while there are moments in the plot that stretch credibility, you are, on the whole, carried joyfully along in the the wild undertow that is...
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