BARNEYS VERSION...

I went along to the State Cinema in Hobart tonight to escape to a light hearted comedy. I came away with mascara running down my face and a resolution to tell my family and friends how much I love them.
"Barneys version" is based on the book by Mordecai Richler. A candid tale of love,life and scotch on the rocks.
In the early part of the film, we see Barney about to marry his chain smoking pregnant girlfiend "Clara". She has little capacity for love or commitment and when we meet her strict Rabbi father we can see why.
Barneys next attempt at love comes in the form of a Jewish Princess .This part is wonderfully constructed by chameleon Minnie Driver. Her homage to Nanny Fine hits the mark except for a few slips in accent. I enjoyed her insistence Barney clean his Long John Thomas before she even THINKS about performing fellatio.
Barney doesn't fit in here. This is especially clear when he brings his father Izzy Panofsky (played by my favourite Jewish man of all time-Dustin Hoffman) home to meet her parents.
Izzy calls it as he sees it; especially after a few drinks. This is in stark contrast to Minnies stuffy parents. Izzys raw candour makes for some of the most tender and funniest scenes in the film.
Its at his second wedding,Barney meets the true love of his love."Miriam" played by Rosamund Pike. Pike,a former bond girl has warmed our hearts in this feature. She seemed a little stifled at the beginning of the film, but this gave way to a hinged stoicness that was essential to the part.
From their first meeting,Barney concedes that he has finally fallen in love and is amazed that it can happen just like that. "Snap!"
Despite being married to his Jewish Princess, Barney relentlessly pursues "Miriam". Miriam eventually concedes.
She does however explain that no form of indiscretion would be tolerated. She is tortured from a father who continued to cheat on her mother. These continual insults to her mother made her sick of mind and body.
I found this amount of detail in the plot original and insightful.
The other interwoven plot is the relationship between Barney and his best mate "Boogie" played by Scott Speedman. Another relatively unknown actor.
Ladies,you may remember him from his four year run on "Felicity"
Boogie is both a flawed and endearing character. Speedman is fantastic as he depicts the lovable and frustrating nature of most addicts.
I always struggle with someone who is THIS talented and good looking at the same time. I think Speedman looked too young to be Giamattis friend.Nevertheless, Im still glad he was there to take his top off.
This wonderful film comes to an unexpected conclusion which I will not spoil for you.
The man that deserves 99% of credit (excluding crew)for the success of this film is the one and only PAUL GIAMATTI.
I love this man in every which way. He first came to my attention in a film called "American Slendour" with Hope Davis.
His big brown bug eyes and short stocky physique make me swoon.
Funnily enough he is the spitting image of my own first true love.
As an actor he exhibits extroidinary range. What about the fast talking boxing manager in "Cindarella Men" or the humble maintenance man in "Lady in Water".
Truly deserving of his recent Golden Globe award for actor in a comedy.
He can do it all. He even takes it up a notch as "Barney".He is able to believably show Barney physically age and mature (or maybe not) over four decades.
He makes us laugh,he makes us cry and he most of all shows us the shades of grey in between.
A heartwarming film that resonated deeply with me and illustrated once again that no one is perfect,but we are all in this together.
I think ya'll like it.
JAX xxx