Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Barney's Version (2010)

Cinemagic Grand on 2/22/11
In writing, it's fun to play with the idea of an unreliable narrator. Writing is intimate enough with the characters that, if done well, an unreliable or biased narrator can make a story even more interesting. In film, it doesn't work quite as well. The audience does not get nearly as close to the characters as a reader would. That means that halfway through the film, there has to be a reveal that the POV character cannot be trusted, which more often than not comes off as a betrayal to the audience. Not endearing at all. The Informant! was terrible with that, as is this film. Of course, I probably should have expected that, given the film's title. This is truly what Barney would say about his life. It's just not how I want to watch a film. Also it's a tease to mention a murder in the first ten minutes and then not do anything with it until an hour and fifteen minutes later.
My Netflix rating: 3 stars

New Movies in Year Three: 7

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