Truly the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater

Just so...so bad

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This is a really sort of unique little comedy/drama. It really does try to have an even balance, starting off as a comedy but then turning into a dark comedy and eventually turning into some sort of drama. Paul Giamatti is absolutely fantastic, of course, changing natural from emotional note to emotional note in a way that makes other actors look like they're straining. Rosamund Pike is also really great, infusing such a natural warmth and presence to her character, completely opposite to what she does with her role in Gone Girl, which is for my money, the best performance of 2014. As a film overall, it could've easily come across as forced or fake, but it never actually does. It manages to make a great impact in what it does.

This has shades of Pippa Lee told from the man's perspective; with the benefit of Rosamund Pike and Paul Giamatti, who are brilliant. Giamatti is a powerhouse of an actor but is playing a similar character to his other roles, which is a little tired... I'd like to see him play something different and to be honest I found it a little unbelievable that he was so successful with women. I don't see it. Sorry. Dustin Hoffman stole the show, and the pacing and back and forth of the film was one of the only things that kept it interesting for me. I didn't feel immersed or invested, just mildly curious, and struggled to remain concentrated. It was almost painful to watch as the characters (except Pike and Hoffman) were all so annoying but it was lifelike and gritty with no bells and whistles. However, the characters were well drawn and the story was cleverly told in told of Direction, Screenplay and execution, and as a example of acting prowess it was great but in terms of "liking" the film, I didn't particularly.

I like Paul Giamatti as an actor but he seemed a little out of place here. His character, Barney, seems to be some kind of sexaholic and we follow him as he flits uncontrollably from one woman to another to another. Luckily the women are fairly awful people as well so you don't have to feel sorry for them either. As other people have pointed out, it's a hell of a stretch to imagine any of those women being interested in him in reality so that kind of makes the film ridiculous from the get-go. It's clear he's a selfish slave to his compulsions but without any exploration as to why, or any struggle to control it, it seems a pointless meandering around a stranger's love life. I didn't see the point. I felt no real connection with him so when bad things happened to him I simply didn't care - in fact it's one of the rare occasions where I was cheering for the other guys instead. It tries to go all lovey-dovey and sentimental in a couple of places but it doesn't work because we've already witnessed him or his lovers being unconscionable tarts in the rest of the film. There were some good actors, good locations and good elements for a story here but the "story" didn't do it justice. I think they could've used the turn of events towards the end to much better effect to lift the film out of the doldrums, but instead it was wasted. A thoroughly pointless film as far as I'm concerned.

There have been many other reviews of this film, so I won't go into details about the plot etc. The following contains the entire denouement - so be warned, if you don't want to know the ending Read no further!What a bitch his wife is. He has on momentary skip off the rails. He has sex one evening whilst his wife is away - he's lonely and worried his wife is being unfaithful to him... When his wife gets home, the doctor calls to give Barney the STD results (all clear). He tells his wife it's "Trouble at' mill" but she finds out it was the doctor by using the recall button. (Suspicious little cow, eh?) Barney admits - in a pathetically over contrite way that he's steered off the rails. He hasn't actually explained what he did. It could have been looking at porn, giving another woman a peck on the cheek, writing a letter to an old flame. He starts crying and say that they have a good marriage and that he want's to make amends. The cow/bitch/slag says the marriage is over - not even being in possession of any facts. - We all need a woman like that, eh? He cops virulent abuse from his self righteous son and the wife clears out the house - and leaves him for good.Some time later he goes demented. We're supposed to elicit from this that the mental trauma of being parted from his wife has caused his brain to get totally fried. (Miriam, the loving, faithful wife)is now shacking up with Bruce Greenwood - let's hope his behavior is one of punctilious rectitude, lest he suffer the same lack of flexibility. When Miriam sees what she's done to Barney, she looks guilty. Her father's infidelity - in her eyes - led to her mother's early demise, courtesy of rampaging cancer. She now understands that she's done the same to Barney.Just before Barney departs this mortal coil, his son (now a little less self righteous and somewhat more conciliatory) points out the water bomber aircraft that regularly lands in the lake where Boogie (Scott Speedman) vanished. By this time, they've found Boogies body way, way, way away from the suspected murder site, having suffered injuries consistent with a "skydiving accident". Barney in a clear thinking moment realizes that Boogie got sucked into the water bombing plane and was dumped - from a great height - onto the ground below. Barney dies and we see a gravestone with "Pernofsky" on it and Miriam puts a rock on top of the gravestone, to show her care and contrition. - Yeah, right... Which bit of "For better or for worse" didn't she understand? Barney, although he got a dose of the old timer's disease, dodged a bullet. 30 years of marriage, one minor infidelity and you can't see Miriam's ass for dust. They should definitely bring out a "Blair's Version" - (Bruce Greenwood's part). I reckon he'll forget to take out the trash one day and Miriam) will brick him into the cellar, as suitable punishment for his unacceptable behaviour.Other minor gripes. Why Paul Giamatti for Barney? Ben Stiller would have been far better. Giamatti hardly looks Semitic. Rosamund Pike - not exactly Semitic looking either - yet the two kids are archetypal Semitic in appearance. Hmmmm - Could Miriam have had a little fling with a couple of Jewish guys? Of course that's different. So the film had an opportunity to be a lot more believable but the screenwriter decided to make it sanctimonious Hollywood nonsense. It should have been someone more Jewish looking for Barney. He should have been much more of a philanderer (to make Miriam's departure more believable) and the kids needn't have looked quite so Levantine. Subtlety was not this films strong point. If the reader thinks that I hated this film - I didn't. There's quite a lot to like. There didn't need much adjustment to take it from a reasonably good film to an excellent film. Sadly, this was not the case.