Barney’s Version: the Genius of Paul Giamatti

I’m not a big movie-goer, but last Monday night my friend Peter invited me to the pre-showing of Barney’s Version, the new movie starring Paul Giamatti. Since then I have been spreading the news. If you enjoy movies with a twisting story that includes hilarity, suspense, mystery and scandal, you will eat this up. Based on a novel by Mordecai Richler, the story bounces around the life of Barney Penofsky, touching on his bachelorhood in the 70s in Rome, through three marriages and his success as a television producer in Montreal. Dustin Hoffman makes for a great sidekick as Barney’s endearingly outrageous dad. The movie is shot beautifully, and the characters age so realistically you feel as if you have spent a lifetime with them. After the showing of the movie, The Creative Coalition, who sponsored the event, had Paul Giamatti and director Richard J Lewis on hand to answer questions about the inspiration and shooting of the movie. I was already a Paul Giamatti fan, now this movie puts him on the top of my list. Go see it!