I Give It a Year

First Hit:  Laugh out loud funny in moments and a little overdone and mishandled in others.

Maybe there is a trend these days to portray therapists as dolts and in need of more therapy than their own clients, and this film does it as well.

The first few scenes with the therapist and then at wedding reception telegraph the ending a bit more than I liked. Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall) have a torrid 7 months together and marry. Was this too early? That is the question the film attempts to answer.

Their friends and family “give it a year”. That their minister gags, coughs, and cannot get our “I now pronounce you man and wife”, also is a dead giveaway to the film's ending. Danny (Stephen Merchant) is one of Josh’s friends and his monologue scenes (wedding toast and during dinner conversations) are horribly distasteful and made me cringe.

That anyone would tolerate anyone with such poor taste and not be guided to alter their behavior was unreflective of any truth.

On the plus side, many of the scenes with Nat and Alec (Terence Harvey) were great and funny while scenes with Josh and Diana (Jane Asher) were touching and reflective.

Byrne is both beautiful and effective as a reserve, active, interesting, and a successful woman who is flustered by Alec from the moment they meet. Spall is strong as the husband who lives by the beat of a different drum from his wife. He isn’t very active, has an odd sense of humor, and is less sophisticated than his wife. Merchant is great at being a total disgusting jerk but I thought his character was really unnecessary in this film. Harvey is perfect as the guy who steals Nat’s heart. Asher is very good as the somewhat shy idealist who wants Josh to fight for her. Minnie Driver plays a friend of theirs and her scenes are wonderfully effective. It was good to see her again. Dan Mazer wrote and directed this. Some of the comedy was gross and ineffective but other aspects of the film were good and spot on.

Overall:  Although uneven, there are good lines and qualities in this film. However it is better suited to watching On Demand.

Barney's Version

First Hit: Although the main character is not very likable, the story and acting is very strong and worthy of attention.

Paul Giamatti plays Barney Panofsky a drunk, curmudgeon, and man fighting to be at peace with his life. Barney is a hard drinking, cigar smoking producer who marries women he doesn’t really want to be with.

He is a good friend and does surprisingly supportive things for some of his co-workers. He is also demanding, self-centered, and pushy with what he wants – usually drunk. His father Izzy (played by Dustin Hoffman) understands his son’s behavior although it appears that Barney learned a lot of his behavior from his father.

His second wife (played by Minnie Driver) is demanding and ends up sleeping with his best friend which results in a bizarre set of incidents which lead a police to think Barney kills his best friend. During his second wedding Barney meets Miriam (played by Rosamund Pike) whom he pursues for years and upon his divorce he seeks her out.

They marry and Barney lives in relative peace because he's with his best friend and lover. But Barney’s jealous and stupid past catch up with him and he breaks his promise to Miriam and she leaves him.

Barney lives his later years in pain and as the film moves towards its ending, his dementia appears to be the price and peace for living his life.

Giamatti is perfect as Panofsky, nobody could have done this role better. Driver is good as a loud demanding wife. Pike is endearingly wonderful as Miriam and fully believable as to why Barney wants to marry her. Hoffman is wonderful as Barney’s father. Michael Konyves wrote an incredible script. Richard J. Lewis directed this script and actors with perfection.

Overall: A very well acted and directed film.

Conviction

First Hit: A good film even though one knows from the beginning how it ends.

Sam Rockwell plays Kenny Waters as a thinking and yet unthinking man who grew up with few boundaries.

Hilary Swank plays Betty Anne Waters as always looking up to her brother and caring for him as their mother couldn’t and wouldn’t. As children we see them always fighting for and protecting the other.

Their mother was non-existent and spent her time working and sleeping around with other men. The only father figure they had was their grandfather. Living in a small town created circumstances that whenever there was trouble Kenny was one person the police looked at as being the possible culprit because often he was.

When a woman is found stabbed and bludgeoned to death, they picked up Kenny, try and convicted him. He claims innocence and Betty of course uses all means to save her brother.

The film takes place over an 12 – 16 year span and during this time Betty goes to school, works full time, gets a degree, attends law school and passes the bar. She does this so that she can get Kenny out of jail.

Assisting Betty is Abra Rice (played by Minnie Driver). Abra works with Betty, assists her with her studies, prods her during downfalls, and ultimately joins the crusade to free Kenny.

It’s a wonderful story about brotherly and a sisterly love and the connection between two people. One downside is that their aging wasn't represented very well it was uneven.

Rockwell is an extremely intelligent actor and this part allowed him to be boundless which at times didn’t work for me. At times when he acted out it may have been in the script but I felt that Rockwell was too smart a person to have acted the way he did. Swank, as is customary, gave an all-out performance in a admirable but not noteworthy role. Driver was very good as the open forgiving friend showing that friendship can survive ups and downs. Pamela Grey wrote a good script which effectively lays out this story. Tony Goldwyn did a good job of directing the actors and guiding the story.

Overall: This is definitely a good film to watch on the couch with family.