Wow, I liked this film. Shot in 2009 but not released until recently, this independent pic is just getting to many cities (like Des Moines where it opens today) and had done less than $1 million in box office as of early February. But it won Paul Giamatti the Best Actor Golden Globe a few weeks ago.
Barney’s Version (Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Dustin Hoffman, Scott Speedman, Bruce Greenwood) – Paul Giamatti, often called the “king of the indies,” won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for this stunningly surprising film about love and aging. Giamatti, most impressively a character actor (The Illusionist, The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, Cinderella Man), is the unlikeliest of leads (Sideways, Duets, John Adams). He is not handsome, buff, or popular; he’s chubby with runaway hair. He is also incredibly talented. His willingness to work on quality projects for little pay makes him one of America’s finest actors and the true everyman.
In Barney’s Version, he plays Barney Panofsky, a free-spirited Canadian TV producer who lucks into the job while spending most of his life wasting away. While abroad, he hangs with his friends, an odd assortment that includes guys with names like Boogie (Scott Speedman, one of his co-stars in Duets). He marries a woman in Italy because he makes her pregnant (or does he?); it doesn’t last long. When he gets back to the states, he falls for a Jewish American Princess (the second Mrs. P.) played by Minnie Driver (looking great but without the British accent in a miscast role) and marries her, too. But at the wedding, he falls head-over-heels for a woman who will become his third wife, Mariam. She is played by the find of the film, Rosamund Pike, who played Jane Bennett in 2005’s Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice. She electrifies the screen in part because she so clearly appears to be way beyond Barney but turns out to be so deep as a character and an actress.
We see Barney non-sequentially, jumping occasionally from his post-60 self back to his earlier lives. We can’t help rooting for the guy even as we see his non-redeeming qualities. In so many ways, he is like his on-screen father, Izzy, played beautifully by a (by-recent-standards) restrained Dustin Hoffman. Izzy is lonely and often embarrassing but the love between father and son is palpable. The interplay of these fine actors is so believable that it almost makes you believe that Giamatti is really Jewish (his wife is), as most of the characters are in the film.
As all great independent films, Barney’s Version creates unexpected moments, exceptional plot lines, and unrestrained performances. Working cheap usually makes actors give their best, free from the fear that the film won’t make enough money. Plus, we get to see both actors who few people recognize and others – like Bruce Greenwood, Saul Rubinek, and the late Maury Chaykin – who are very well known but willing to add their talent to a film likely not to garner big box office.
Barney’s Version is a perfectly wonderful character study with a bittersweet ending from TV director Richard J. Lewis (not the comedian of the same name). Its only Oscar nomination is for makeup but, trust me, this is one of the best movies of the year.