I Give it a Year

Nat (played by Rose Byrne) is a stylish, ambitious and successful advertising professional in London. She meets Josh (by Rafe Spall) – her polar opposite, a writer, relaxed, quirky and far less disciplined – but somehow they connect and a passionate relationship ensues. After a few months, they marry and are blissfully happy. Friends, of course, are skeptical at this union and even comment to each other … “I give it a year …”  At first, things are totally blissful and the couple are inseparable, but time goes by and those little things start to irritate each of them … they seek solace in the company of their friends – Nat, at work with her colleagues; and Josh with his best friend Danny (by Stephen Merchant). One day, a new client brings work to Nat’s company and she must work closely with the representative Guy (by Simon Baker). Being frustrated at the state of her own relationship, she is distracted by the charms of the stylish and handsome Guy. At the same time, Josh runs into his ex-girlfriend Chloe (by Anna Faris) – she is totally not like Nat – she’s arty, kooky and down to earth. Things start to get very difficult between Nat and Josh, so they seek the advice of Marriage Counsellor, Linda (by Olivia Colman). With their first anniversary approaching and attractive options on the periphery of their lives beckoning them both, will they last the distance together and make a go of it …. ?

As Rom-Coms go, this movie is long on the Rom but weak on the Com … because it’s totally predictable. Where it does the romance, it does that quite nicely, but where it does the comedy (which is much more frequent) I can see where the comedy is, but it doesn’t strike me as funny – at best, it’s predictable, but it’s mostly just tedious and irritating. The ridiculous antics of the Marriage Counsellor, the excruciating inappropriate behaviour of the “best friend” Danny, the utter ineptitude of Josh himself and the awfully staged scenarios of this entire piece …. Ugh!  Perhaps I missed something and it’s supposed to be this way, but it’s not my type of thing I’m afraid. To my mind, possibly the best parts are those played by Nigel Planer (you may remember him with endearment as the hapless Neil from “The Young Ones” on television in the ’80s) and Clare Higgins as one set of parents. Minnie Driver’s role as Naomi is vaguely entertaining, but that wears thin after a while. For a comedy, nobody appears the slightest bit happy about anything. I’d like to ask all these great actors “What on Earth were you thinking taking a role in this movie?” … My advice –  wait for television for this one, and even then only if you have absolutely nothing better to do.

Made in 2013. Directed by Dan Mazer

 

Barney’s Version

Barney Panofsky (played by Paul Giamatti) is reflecting on his life and we view this from his perspective. He has always been a selfish, chain-smoking, hard-drinking hockey fan – and he looks it – but he’s had some great relationships too. He reflects on his successes and failures through a sequence of memories … from his youth spent in Rome in the 1970’s with his best friend Boogie (by Scott Speedman) where he meets and marries his first wife. He returns to Montreal and finds success in television, where he also meets his second wife (by Minnie Driver). He then becomes utterly infatuated with the love of his life Miriam (by Rosamund Pike) with whom he has a family and finds the most happiness.. Barney’s life is punctuated by failures and terrible down times. His father, Izzy Panofsky (by Dustin Hoffman) is a retired detective who has been around through it all. He has a different personality type to Barney and he provides a breath of fresh air in Barney’s frustrating life. Although he has had some wonderful relationships with women (I’m not sure what they see in him really …), Barney is not really a very nice man and in the later years of his life he comes to realise this through the eyes of his children and Miriam.

Paul Giamatti is great in this role – Barney is so desperately lonely and disappointed in how his life has gone.  Rosamund Pike is beautifully serene and a wonderful balance to him, whereas Dustin Hoffman’s Izzy is truly special – he is marvellous. His is the most entertaining character and in my view the best performance. Overall, I’m not quite sure what to make of it – but it is a well made and interesting movie.

The movie is an adaptation of Mordecai Richler’s 1997 novel “Barney’s Version” and the director is Richard J. Lewis.