"Barney's Version"

With all due respect to the L.A. Times movie critic, Betsy Sharkey, who gave this film extravagant praise, I beg to disagree. Yes, the actors are marvelous. Paul Giamotti, with Dustin Hoffman always terriffic, as his father, Rosamund Pike as the great "love" (I call it obsession) of the main character, played by Giamotti, Minnie Driver as wife #2, gorgeous Rosamund Pike - eventuallly wife #3, with eveyone else in the cast excellent. Nevertheless, if you haven't read the book (by Mordecai Richler), which I haven't, you might also find the decades shifting confusing. Furthermore, much as I have admired the work of Giamotti in other films, I did not find him believable as a lovable or charming character (admittedly flawed - aren't we all?), as he must have seemed in the novel. and should have been on screen. Instead he came off as sadly and badly emotionally dependent, with little or no self-esteem, and eventually became what I would have to call a real nut case "stalker" of "the love of his life." (Obsession isn't love as far as I'm concerned.) He does a marvelous job, however, of portraying Barney in his declining years.
I am presuming the book, "Barney's Version" must have been told in the first person (which the movie was not), otherwise, the title makes no sense.
As always, Dustin Hoffman was perfect in his role, and he and the exquisite Rosamund Pike as Miriam were outstanding. As an ex-policeman retelling somewhat off color old war stories to the uptight relatives of Minnie Driver, still Hoffman is just so likeable! But there were too many minutes of unpleasant rudeness and insulting comments and behavior of many of the characters, and as a friend of mine often says, "Would you want to spend two hours with these people?" My answer is a resounding "No!" But, I did, and so I cannot give it more than TWO STARS. ( those earned only because of the actors skill I'm sure the Director, Richard J. Lewis and the screen writers did as good a job as possible, considering there was too much material in the novel to present in a two hour movie. Maybe they should have considered the "Harry Potter" solution, and have divided it into two films?)