Barney's Version (DVD)

Richard J. Lewis directs this seriocomic adaptation of Mordecai Richler's award-winning 1997 novel, starring Paul Giamatti (AMERICAN SPLENDER) as Barney Panofsky, an eponymous, hard-drinking television producer who meets the love of his life, Miriam, Rosamund Pike, at the most inopportune time imaginable: his marriage to his second wife Minnie Driver, a wealthy Jewish princess and compulsive shopper. Narrated by Barney as a confessional, the film covers thirty years of his unusual journey, from his first marriage to the chronically unfaithful free spirit Clara, Rachelle Lefevre and their life in Italy together, through his third marriage to Miriam, with whom he has two children. Standing in the wings is Barney's father, Izzy, Dustin Hoffman (RAIN MAN) who continues to stick by him as his loyal right hand man. Through it all, Barney experiences numerous highs and lows, but manages to consistently surprise everyone with unforeseen acts of altruism and kindness that turn him into the quintessential modern hero.