Review of Barney's Version (2010) by Jeff S — 03 Feb 2011

Most films bounce up and down over their duration, varying between their highs and their lows, and the ones that can most consistently stay near the highs are generally the best. In that sense, Barny's Version is a bit of an anomaly - it stars very low, and finishes very high, progressively improving over its entire run-time.

Its beginnings are slow, uninteresting, and worth only an occasional chuckle, leaving you wondering what the critics found so appealing. But it keeps getting better, and before you know it, you're hanging on every word, every moment, and you realize you've just witnessed something exceptional.

And just to note, while most will heap praise on Giamatti's performance (especially in his character's latter years), I want to draw attention to Dustin Hoffman, who I thought turned in one of his best performances to date.