Review of Barney's Version (2010) by Sean W — 11 Jul 2011

I hate to say it, but there are a lot of novels that are brought to the silver screen and feel like this movie. The feeling I'm talking about is that there's too much going and that you get a sense that a lot the drama is being glossed over; that it's not packing the punch that it should. That's Barney's Version. It's well-acted and has its charm, but it doesn't feel like a complete picture.

When we first meet up with Barney (Paul Giamatti), he's an old man. He runs a production studio that makes Canadian soaps, and he's content to go his favorite pub, Grumpy's, and watch hockey while he drinks. Right off the bat, we hear about a book that's been released that supposedly pegs Barney for the murder of his best friend. It's at this point the story is told in retrospect. Unfortunately, the whole murder angle could've been written out entirely as it's the weakest aspect of the film, and doesn't take up much screen time in this 2 hour plus movie. No, what this film is really about is the women in Barney's life. Namely, his three wives. The first was brought upon by a baby (always a good way to go), the second out of convenience. The third, however, was the love of his life, Miriam (Rosamund Pike).

The movie excels when we're dealing with these relationships, especially the third, because by this point we're familiar with how Barney acts in a relationship. And it should be familiar territory, as it tends to happen in any relationship. The man courts the woman and feels so lucky to have her. But that enthused romance soon fades into routine, and those things you found so unique in the other become annoyances. You take things for granted and sometimes the relationship just fails. We're told early on that Barney's divorced, and for once it's actually interesting to watch that all unfold. Both Paul Giamatti and Rosamund Pike to a terrific job of injecting their characters with a third dimension. There are several heart-wrenching scenes between the two. Rarely does a movie's second act best its first, but this is one of those exceptions. That's also this film's flaw.

It's hard to pick up steam halfway through a movie, and had the film's first half been stronger, and superfluous stories been cut . . . I think the movie would've been better off. As it stands, it's an interesting retrospective on the life of a man who loved to surround himself with that one woman, but didn't exactly know how to deal with her.