This movie is so off Hollywood that most stores don't carry it. I sought it out because it gives a rare starring role to Patrick Wilson, a talented and amazingly handsome character actor. He has been my idol since I saw his co-star turn in Little Children, and if you like him you will want to check him out. Even with his looks muted by bad hair and a ridiculous goatee, he is a pleasure to watch. Barry Munday works better as a romance than a comedy, and better as a character study than either. Munday is a recognizable caricature of American men as seen by a resentful feminist like his co-protagonist Ginger Farley (Judy Greer). Much of the movie is amusing, but it is rarely LOL funny. Munday starts out the film as an unambitious schlub whose only genuine interest is chasing skirts. The father of one of his amours follows him into a theater and smashes his testicles with a trumpet, so that they have to be removed. Just as he recovers, Ginger, one of his last hookups, claims to be pregnant with his child. At first coldly contemptuous of Barry, she gradually warms to him, even as he grows to become a loving husband and father. Aware that he can have no other children, Barry uneasily bypasses several hints that he is not the real father. The first time I saw this, I was disappointed that Barry seems to react to his "accident" as if he lost an IRS refund check. But instead of becoming angry, Munday even more uncentered than he was before and uses different approaches to acting like an adult. Toward the end, as Barry and Ginger come to a mutually supportive relationship, he literally finds his voice and his face just glows. The movie is not entirely clear where Barry and Ginger wind up, however. It is clear that Ginger and Barry come to love one another. But their scene in bed ends in an unsatisfactory way, she doesn't marry him, and she doesn't give the daughter his name, even though he badly wants her to. At the end, we are told rather than shown that Barry, Ginger, and their respective families are happy. Greer appropriately repellent at the outset and handles her transformation convincingly. The supporting cast does well, especially Jean Smart as Barry's mother.
Review of Barry Munday
