There are very few people in this film who would be eligible for the title of a protagonist; you know, someone you root for. Certainly Barney doesn't qualify; he is every bit the animal that his second wife accuses him of being. She is no prize as well. His first wife seems to have been an emotional wreak, and his best friend would qualify as a shallow, drug-addicted narcissist. Just about every character in the film is annoyingly flawed to the extent we hate just about everyone in the film; including Pike's character. What kind of person dates a man (or a woman) who cheated on his wife on their wedding day? I'm sorry, but I am just not buying any of these people as worthy of my concern. Why should I care about them? Giamatti is always fun to watch and is a great actor, as is Pike and Hoffman, but all of them are much more shallow than the lake his friend dives into. Normally, I would give a film like this a 4, but the actors are so intense, and try so hard that I had to give it a 6.
Review of Barney's Version
