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BARNEY’S VERSION

"Self-Indulgent, Immoral Protagonist"

What You Need To Know:

BARNEY’S VERSION follows the immoral, self-indulgent life of Barney Panofsky. Based on the novel by Mordechai Richler, the movie shows Barney quickly marrying the daughter of a wealthy businessman after his first wife commits suicide. Barney leaves his wedding reception to chase after Miriam, a woman who has enraptured his heart. As Barney pines for Miriam, his second wife has an adulterous affair with Barney’s best friend. Barney uses that opportunity to seek a divorce, so he can pursue Miriam unfettered. Barney and Miriam eventually get married and have two children. At last, Barney seems to have settled down. That is, until he commits adultery with a young starlet from his TV show. Miriam leaves Barney just as he begins to display signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

The performances in BARNEY’S VERSION are excellent, but the story is depressing and abhorrent overall. It has a very strong Romantic worldview with tragic, anti-biblical characters who behave immorally while never truly changing their ways. It also contains abundant foul language, very strong sexual content, explicit nudity, strong alcohol use, and other immoral content. BARNEY’S VERSION is hardly a version worth hearing or seeing.

Content:

(RoRoRo, AbAb, PCPC, Ho, RH, Co, LLL, V, SSS, NN, AAA, DD, MMM) Very strong Romantic worldview with immoral anti-biblical behavior throughout and strong politically correct elements as a vegan preaches to his friends about the barbaric treatment of animals for mass consumption, a couple dialogue scenes regarding homosexual lifestyles and one negative revisionist communist comment about McCarthyism; 48 obscenities and 18 profanities; light violence includes pushing, shoving, punching, police brutality, man tackles his best friend, implied suicide, and man goes on a tirade destroying pictures in his house; very strong accumulative sexual content overall includes two scenes of depicted adulterous fornication, unmarried kissing, married kissing, implied married sex, implied oral sex, woman tells story of her father committing adultery, graphic sexual dialogue, father dies in a whorehouse, and man makes comment about masturbation; upper female nudity, upper male nudity, side female cleavage, woman lying around in lingerie; very strong alcohol use throughout and strong drunkenness depicted; cigar smoking throughout, cigarette smoking throughout and some pot smoking depicted; and, blackmail, father tells his son to tell a white lie to his mother, and son disrespects father.

More Detail:

BARNEY’S VERSION, based on the novel by Mordechai Richler, follows the immoral and self-indulgent life of Barney Panofsky, from the excesses of his youth, through three failed marriages and to his eventual battle with Alzheimer’s.

After his first wife commits suicide, Barney quickly gets remarried to the daughter of a wealthy businessman. However, he leaves his wedding reception to chase after Miriam, a woman who has enraptured his heart. As Barney pines for Miriam, his second wife has an adulterous affair with Barney’s best friend. Barney uses the opportunity to seek a divorce, so he can pursue Miriam unfettered.

Barney and Miriam eventually get married and have two children. At last, Barney seems to have settled down. That is, until he commits adultery with a young starlet from his TV show. Miriam leaves Barney just as he begins to display signs of Alzheimer’s disease. As his life nears its end, Barney finds some resolution with his estranged wife, Miriam, and his daughter becomes his caretaker.

BARNEY’S VERSION is extremely well acted. Paul Giamatti as Barney is masterful in his portrayal, deftly capturing both Barney’s worst behavioral traits while never losing Barney’s indefinable charm. Rosamund Pike as Miriam is also amazing, and her demure simplicity provides the perfect counterpoint to Barney’s excessiveness.

However, even with superb acting, the movie is abhorrent. It contains a very strong Romantic worldview with tragic, anti-biblical characters who behave immorally while never truly changing their ways. It also contains strong foul language, very strong accumulative sexual content, explicit nudity, strong alcohol use, and other immoral content. BARNEY’S VERSION is hardly a version worth hearing or seeing.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.