Barney's Version (Richard J. Lewis, 2010)

Weighty novels and their film derivatives centred around the chequered life stories of misanthropic men looking back from middle age are generally to be approached with caution: the central figure is too often the author himself thinly veiled, only injected with greater spending power and off-the cuff wit, and supplied with improbably alluring women to boot. But when Paul Giamatti is the misanthrope in question, a lot becomes forgivable. He may not be stretched here in Sideways mode as Barney Panofsky, boozy and philandering eternal kid, alternately snapping and schmoozing his way over forty years, but he's never less than compelling to watch. True, he is used as a Trojan horse for some pretty schmaltzy content in places, but as the tone darkens from comedy to elegiac drama, his performance is a steadfast core to hold onto.

6/10