Barney's Version (2010)

	Directed by: Richard J. Lewis	COUNTRY Canada GENRE Drama NORWEGIAN TITLE Barney's Version RUNNING TIME 134 minutes
	Produced by: Robert Lantos
	Written by: Michael Konyves

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Barney Panofsky	Paul Giamatti
Israel 'Izzy' Panofsky	Dustin Hoffman	½
Miriam Grant	Rosamund Pike
The second wife	Minnie Driver
Clara Charnofsky	Rachelle Lefevre
Kate Panofsky	Anna Hopkins
Michael Panofsky	Jake Hoffman
Blair	Bruce Greenwood
Detective O'Hearne	Mark Addy
Bernard 'Boogie' Moscovitch	Scott Speedman
Leo	Thomas Trabacchi
Cedric	Clé Bennett
Mr. Charnofsky	Saul Rubinek

Review

In 1997, Canadian novelist Mordecai Richter wrote "Barney's Version", and in 2010, director Richard J. Lewis filmed this adaptation penned by Michael Konyves. The story is about an ageing, bitter divorcee called Barney Panofsky (Paul Giamatti), who takes a step back to look at his life and marriages, starting in the mid-70s when he was in his late 20s, and ranging up to the present, when his wife and love of his life has left him for another man and his kids are off to college. Throughout his story we get to experience ups and downs, warmth and selfishness, romance and cynicism – in short, all you can expect from a long life fully lived by a man as flawed as any of us. The biggest key to the film's success, in addition to Paul Giamatti's brilliant performance in the lead and his wonderful relationship with his father, played with bravura by the ever-great Dustin Hoffman, is the empathetic humour with which Richter infuses his organic story. The term "creating a universe" is often attributed to the fantasy genre, but I would rather use it to describe what Richter, Konyves and Lewis have done here, because after these two hours, you feel that you've lived this man's life – with all the bittersweetness that living a life entails. And in Barney's case, a little craziness to boot.