Mordecai Richler

Based on the final novel by Mordecai Richler, Barney's Version is another comedy of foibles, an examination of a man whose life swings wildly between moments of sheer foolishness and uncommon grace.

Dan Persons: Mighty Movie Podcast: Richard J. Lewis on Barney's Version Dan Persons 2011

The final novel by acclaimed Canadian author Mordecai Richler is now a motion picture starring American actor Paul Giamatti as the prickly and complex Barney Panofsky, recounting the high and low points of his checkered life.

Life's Disorder Takes Center Stage in Comedy, 'Barney's Version' 2011

Unfortunately, it captures all too well the petty tone of Mordecai Richler's novel about artists sniping at each other for years at a time over betrayals real and perceived.

Michael Giltz: DVDs: Should Charlie Sheen Have Made "Born On The Fourth Of July?" Michael Giltz 2011

Based on the final novel by Mordecai Richler, Barney's Version is another comedy of foibles, an examination of a man whose life swings wildly between moments of sheer foolishness and uncommon grace.

Dan Persons: Mighty Movie Podcast: Richard J. Lewis on Barney's Version Dan Persons 2011

Unfortunately, it captures all too well the petty tone of Mordecai Richler's novel about artists sniping at each other for years at a time over betrayals real and perceived.

Michael Giltz: DVDs: Should Charlie Sheen Have Made "Born On The Fourth Of July?" Michael Giltz 2011

Unfortunately, it captures all too well the petty tone of Mordecai Richler's novel about artists sniping at each other for years at a time over betrayals real and perceived.

Michael Giltz: DVDs: Should Charlie Sheen Have Made "Born On The Fourth Of July?" Michael Giltz 2011

Pike prepared for playing Miriam by meeting author Mordecai Richler's widow, Florence, who was the inspiration for the character and who he really did meet and fall in love with on the day he married his second wife.

Life's Disorder Takes Center Stage in Comedy, 'Barney's Version' 2011

But "The Free World" is a pale, wise-cracking creature in comparison with the angry and full-throated work of Henry Roth or Bernard Malamud—or of the Canadian-Jewish standard-bearer Mordecai Richler.

Lost in Transit Sam Sacks 2011

The final novel by acclaimed Canadian author Mordecai Richler is now a motion picture starring American actor Paul Giamatti as the prickly and complex Barney Panofsky, recounting the high and low points of his checkered life.

Life's Disorder Takes Center Stage in Comedy, 'Barney's Version' 2011

Unfortunately, it captures all too well the petty tone of Mordecai Richler's novel about artists sniping at each other for years at a time over betrayals real and perceived.

Michael Giltz: DVDs: Should Charlie Sheen Have Made "Born On The Fourth Of July?" Michael Giltz 2011