Barney’s Version (2011)

Let’s give some credit to our friendly Canadian neighbors: People of the “Great White North” frequently make significant and intriguing contributions to popular culture, but too often their popularity diminishes significantly when they venture south of the border. A prime example is Barney’s Version, a touching comedic drama that received only one Golden Globe nomination (for Paul Giamatti, who won Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical) and one Oscar nomination (for Best Makeup), yet leads all contenders with 11 nominations for the Canadian Genie Awards. Incindies, the French Canadian film nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, is in second place at the Genies with 10 nominations.

Barney Panofsky (Giamatti) is a Montreal television producer who’s just been featured in the papers due to the publication of a book that accuses him of committing a long-unsolved murder. The old, fat detective (Mark Addy) that wrote the book even hounds Barney at his favorite local bar, inquiring, “Where’d you hide the body?” Barney won’t answer him, but instead we flashback to 1974 as we’re presented with Barney’s version of events–of his entire romantic life, as it turns out.

Barney’s first marriage, to a free-spirited hippie (Rachelle Lefevre) he and his friends meet while sowing their wild oats in 1974 Rome, ends disastrously. The following year, he’s back in Montreal learning the shared arts of television production and shmoozing bigwigs from his Uncle Irv, when he meets the archetypal “nice Jewish girl” (Minnie Driver). Despite her sourpuss parents, Barney marries her, which at least pleases his father Izzy (Dustin Hoffman), a retired cop who gives him a revolver concealed in Star-of-David wrapping paper for a wedding present.

But that’s not Barney’s only surprise at the reception. His eyes soon fall upon Miriam (Rosamund Pike), a beautiful NYC radio personality invited to the wedding by a cousin. Once he speaks with her, he immediately realizes he’s just met the true love of his life, the mother of his future children. Unfortunately, he’s met her on the day he married someone else. But that doesn’t stop Barney from attempting to flee to New York with Miriam on his own wedding night, contributing to the parade of emotional entanglements that constitute his life.

Barney’s Version was the last novel published by the acclaimed Jewish Canadian author Mordecai Richler, whose book The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz became a film in 1974, with an early starring role for Richard Dreyfuss. That film’s director, Ted Kotcheff, makes a cameo appearance as a train conductor in Barney’s Version. The movie also includes several other amusing cameos as a kind of mini-tribute to Canadian film and TV production. Barney’s hit TV series about a Mountie stars Paul Gross, who played the Mountie-in-the-U.S. role on the late-‘90s TV series Due South. The two directors seen working on Barney’s show are none other than two of the most widely acclaimed Canadian film directors, Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg. Even French Canadian director Denys Arcand (The Barbarian Invasions, Jesus of Montreal) makes an appearance as a restaurant maitre-d’.

As for that Golden Globe award, Giamatti deservedly earned it. His funny, touching performance encompasses a wide range of emotions over a lengthy period of time, and he pulls it off with perfection. He proved he could connect with a wide audience in a leading role when he played the lovelorn schlub in Sideways, and he does so again here, but in a story that spans over 30 years. The Oscar nom for makeup is also well deserved, with subtle yet astute aging adjustments to the hair, clothing, and appearance of both Giamatti and Rosamund Pike. Speaking of Pike, she didn’t register on my radar until her notable supporting role in An Education last year, but she is luminous, heartbreaking, and unforgettable in this film.

In addition to Pike, Barney’s Version features a worthy collection of supporting performances and some eye-opening dramatic moments. Saul Rubinek (the weak-willed biographer in Unforgiven) has a brief and powerful early scene as Barney’s first father-in-law. Minnie Driver is superb, encapsulating every stereotypical detail of the “Jewish princess,” yet forging them into a realistic character who deserves more screen time than she gets. Stalwart Canadian actor Bruce Greenwood impresses as a “vegan” neighbor who gets too involved with the family. Dustin Hoffman tends to ride on his past glory these days by playing old Jews and quirky characters, but he has some truly tender scenes with Giamatti, and this role fits him like a glove. And Jake Hoffman, Dustin’s son, shows some good dramatic potential in a few scenes as Barney and Miriam’s grown son.

As likable and enjoyable as Barney’s Version is, it suffers from excessive length and a bit too much drama, particularly as it approaches the end. Despite the comedy of the first half of the film, the inclusion of two Leonard Cohen songs on the soundtrack are an obvious indication that the story will not end happily. Bring the tissues, folks, because things get increasingly sad as the film laboriously tear-jerks us to a weakly resolved conclusion. It’s not a terrible end to the film, but it feels like a tapering coda to an already long story.

Barney’s Version may get lost in the American cinematic shuffle, much like last year’s hilarious and inventive Toronto-made film Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. But for movie fans looking for something off the beaten path to the award-show red carpet, it’s a long, funny, and dramatic diversion.