Most men in movies are jerks. The typical Hollywood hero is drunk, disheveled and disloyal. But if he looks like Bradley Cooper, all is forgiven.
Paul Giamatti has been an antidote to such pretty-boy poison. In "Sideways," he was the smart, sensitive schlub who got the girl. Yet it was handsome co-star Thomas Haden Church who got the Oscar nomination.
For his role in "Barney's Version," Giamatti finally won a major movie award - a Golden Globe as best comedic actor - by playing a jerk. As Barney Panofsky, a blunt, adulterous, Canadian TV producer, Giamatti is a hammy treat. But the sloppy storytelling and slippery morals leave an unfulfilling aftertaste.
Based on a novel by Mordecai Richler, "Barney's Version" follows Panofsky through three decades and three marriages. In Rome, he parties with English-speaking bohemians and is tricked into marrying a self-destructive Russian floozy (Rachelle Lefevre). In Montreal, he is tricked into marrying a money-hungry Jewish-Canadian princess (miscast Rachelle Lefevre). And on his wedding day, he is tricked into abandoning his bride for a beautiful American journalist (radiant Rosamund Pike).
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Or at least, that's his version of events. To the outside observer, Barney is no victim, and it's hard to sustain sympathy for a curmudgeon who cheats on his wives, bullies the crew of the soap opera he produces and misses several important occasions in his life because he's busy watching hockey in a bar called (yes) Grumpy's.
Barney might say that there are good excuses, including a boorish father (Dustin Hoffman), a chronic illness, three sudden deaths and an accusation of murder. But, inexcusably, the murder charge that frames the story is shrugged off for most of the movie and finally made moot by an act of God. And the chronic illness is just another conveniently melodramatic curveball from left field.
"Barney's Version" has episodes instead of plot, outbursts instead of wit and alibis instead of growth. But it also has a star we'd be willing to watch in "Barney's Version 2.0."
Review
Barney's Version
** 1/2
• Rated: R for language and some sexual content.
• Director: Richard J. Lewis.
• Cast: Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman, Rachelle Lefevre.
• Running time: 132 minutes.
