Looking like he's just slouched off Sideways’ set, Paul Giamatti elevates this shaggy-dog story, adapted from Mordecai richler’s comic novel about the three marriages in the life of Barney Panofsky, a womanising TV producer.
Despite the 30-year scope, Giamatti plays the shabby grumpus with the ease of a man blowing smoke from a fat cigar.
The final act slumps into sentimentality, but with Dustin Hoffman all-a-twinkle as Panofsky’s dad and the story plotted at a pleasant amble, old-school star charm and old-fashioned storytelling compensate.
