Mordecai Richler's tragic-comic novel sets a few problems for any film-maker. It spans three decades of the eccentric life and times of its leading character - a Jewish howitzer called Barney Panofsky, who drinks too much, marries three times, has a passion for self-hatred and is intent on getting his own way.
That's an awful lot to get through, and it shows - but Paul Giamatti plays the short and blubbery Barney with such skill that you end up with some affection for this thoroughly dislikeable man.
He thinks he's got his first wife (Rachelle Lefevre) pregnant after "30 seconds of prodding" only to find his black friend is the culprit, and then marries a Jewish princess (Minnie Driver) who talks and shops incessantly.
It is at this hopelessly inappropriate wedding that he spies Miriam (Rosamund Pike), to whom he proclaims undying love. It's not long before his father (Dustin Hoffman), an ex-policeman none too careful of his own morals, instructs him to divorce the Jewish princess and marry Miriam. Two children come along and it looks as if he's finally settled. But he still drinks too much and behaves disgracefully to guests.
You wonder what Miriam sees in Barney. But Pike's performance equals Giamatti's own, showing how even a nice, intelligent woman can fall if pursued remorselessly enough. These two dominate an episodic but very watchable film and Hoffman, currently on British telly doing one of the most dreadful ads of all time, gives a performance of equal class. If you look hard enough you'll see tiny cameos from directors David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan.
There's no doubt that Richard J Lewis's direction and Konyves's screenplay give them plenty of scope. The result was a well-deserved Golden Globe for Giamatti and a film with an unusual sense of sophistication.
