My Best Friend (2006)

Just perfect...

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Blistering performances.

Whilst looking round for easy-going French Comedy titles,I stumbled on a Comedy starring François Hollande's "mistress" Julie Gayet!,which led to me getting ready to meet my friend.The plot:Going to a dinner with art dealing business partner Catherine, François tells a story of going to a funeral where only a few people turned up.Picking up his comment,Catherine says that she thinks no one would attend his funeral,(what a class act!) due to François not having any friends. Wanting to push things a bit,Catherine challenges François to a bet,where he must introduce her to his best friend,or she gets to take a valuable vase of his.After accepting the offer, François starts looking round for a "new" best friend.View on the film:Keeping the mood light and sweet with gliding tracking shots,co- writer/ (along with Patrice Leconte and Jérôme Tonnerre) director Patrice Leconte & cinematographer Jean-Marie Dreujou sweep along François's search for a "best friend" with wide shots that allow one liners to dart across the screen. Surprisingly leaving out any romance in the movie,the screenplay by Leconte/Dazat and Tonnerre instead takes the quirky buddy Comedy route,with the dialogue between François & Bruno cleverly being balanced to keep the Comedy sparks lit,whilst also moving their friendship forward.Despite going a bit left-field with the game show final,the writers do largely keep the title on its feet,by making Bruno and François's very funny conversations in Bruno's cab be a sweet mix and match of off- beat and natural. Unexpectedly not being the romantic lead, Julie Gayet gives a very good performance as Catherine,with Gayet's sass allowing Catherine to keep François busy on his toes. Looking everywhere for a pal, Daniel Auteuil gives a great performance as François,thanks to Auteuil making François look ruffled at ever attempt he makes to get a friend,whilst Dany Boon shines in a heartfelt performance as Bruno,who meets (My) his best friend.

This mildly diverting film is based on an odd couple of two friendless men; one a successful businessman, who doesn't even realise that none of his acquaintances are true friends until it's pointed out to him, and an amiable but eccentric taxi driver who can pass the time of day with any one but knows no-one close. In some ways its a refreshing movie; there are so many films about people without sexual partners, but in a way, to have no friends is even sadder, to have failed to form even a relationship that does not require exclusive reciprocity. It could, in fact, be argued that friendship is less transactional than sexual partnership; in any event, there's comedy and sympathy in the film's portrait of two men who are fundamentally alone. On the minus side, the lack of self-awareness of Daniel Autiel's character is painful but not especially believable; and the use of the game show, 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire', to provide tension to the plot is a little corny (it's been done elsewhere, of course) and seemingly confesses to a lack of intrinsic tension in the film's own story. Still, it's miles better than a generic romcom, and keeps itself light and brief: a successful film, though a modest one.

Francois Coste (Daniel Auteuil) is a Parisian antiques dealer who becomes obsessed with finding a best friend after a casual acquaintance off-handedly remarks that Francois has no single person in his life who fulfills that role. This sets Francois off on a mission to prove the acquaintance wrong, finally alighting on a gregarious taxicab driver named Bruno (Dany Boon) to instruct him on the ins and outs of how to make a lifelong buddy.One of the drawbacks of "My Best Friend" is that we are required to take so much of it on faith, since Francois really doesn't seem to be all that unfriendly and unaffable a guy when you get right down to it. We keep being told that he is cold, self-centered and heartless but, at least as portrayed by Auteuil, Francois doesn't seem to embody much in the way of those qualities - and without that crucial dimension, the movie itself fails to engage us in its premise."My Best Friend" is a harmless enough little piffle, I suppose, but it's afflicted with that cutesy, self-congratulatory smugness that is the bane of so many French comedies. Frankly, five minutes after the movie's over, we've all but forgotten we ever saw it.

The premise of this film is delightful but the film lacks the fairy tale quality that would have you smiling and loving the characters at the end of the film. It's almost too realistic and, as others have noted, has a cruel streak that makes the film a bit of a downer. Also, the situation the main character finds himself in is depicted as singularly unique, but is it really? We all throw the word "friend" around, but most are really just co-workers or acquaintenances. A friend is someone who has a key to your house and can walk in anytime and you wouldn't be surprised to see him/her there. In truth, Francois's life isn't all that different from many others.