Barney's Version (R)

BARNEY'S VERSION (R)

MOVIESAL'S GRADE: B-

Cast:

	Paul Giamatti	...	Barney Panofsky
	Mark Addy	...	Detective O'Hearne
	Scott Speedman	...	Boogie
	Rosamund Pike	...	Miriam Grant-Panofsky

Barney Panofsky has lived a full, interesting life. There's no doubt about that. But, was it a  happy one? Did he mess it all up along the way? Can it ever be fixed?

Inter-cutting between the past and present, this film tells the life story of Barney (Paul Giamatti), a man who is allegedly so bad and corrupt he even has a vengeful police officer write a book about him and a murder he believes Barney got away with. This film is Barney's version of those events. It's impossible to discuss this movie without spoilers, so be forewarned here. Spoiler follow.

Barney is an interesting character, and Paul Giamatti does an effortless job making him age appropriately. Using him for the entire age range of Barney instead of getting a younger actor for the earlier years was brave, and Paul is amazing throughout. I'm not sure if they shot this in sequence or not (it seems like it would certainly have made it easier on Paul to keep everything straight), but the use of the skewed timeline really adds an element of tragic inevitability that sets a kind of pall over the whole film. It's intriguing, and very European in the slow, methodical way it all unfurls. It will move far too slowly for some movie-goers, and at just over two hours that is completely understandable. My biggest problem with this film wasn't the length, but with the characters. Almost all of them are fall-down drunk the vast majority of the time, and no one in here is particularly likable. They are all mean, selfish hedonists with very little in the way of souls. There's no hero to root for. You just have a fully-human, tragic character to watch spiral ever downward. It's interesting in the same way Jerry Springer is interesting.

The did-he-or-didn't-he murder subplot is interesting, and I would have liked to have seen more time spent on it. I was also slight disappointed with how they finally wrapped it up. The "solution" was a bit simplistic and neat, and also I think it was an episode of Mythbusters. 

The movie has a lot of humor amidst the dower plot. Dustin Hoffman is Barney's father, and he has a great time with the role. The acting is solid all the way around, and the story and style are very well-done. The introduction of Alzheimer's seemed gratuitous and unneeded. The story would have been much more solid without it. The entire last act would have been different, and I would have liked it more personally. I also would have liked having someone I liked and cared about to watch. Of course, that's not what the movie was going for, so you have to respect them for doing what they did. 

Taking this film as what it is and not what I want it to be, it's a well-acted, sad story of someone you ultimately don't like. But for the Grace of God...

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Entertaining? At times. It was long, but I wasn't bored.

Enlightening? On a certain level. 

Summary: Paul Giamatti delivers a great, Oscar-nominated performance, but go into this movie knowing what it is. It's not feel-good or happy in the least.