3 amis (2007) - film review

Claire, César and Baptiste have been friends since childhood.  Now in their forties, they find it hard to keep up with one another.  It doesn’t help that Baptiste has fallen for a woman that neither Claire nor César approves of.  When Baptiste’s new wife suddenly walks out on him, who should suddenly re-enter his life than his two old buddies?  But as Claire and César soon discover as they try to help Baptiste through the hardest of mid-life crises, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

Michel Boujenah’s follow up to his popular directorial debut feature Père et fils (2003) is this engaging but pretty insubstantial portrait of middle-age comradeship, viewed from a slightly cynical angle.  Despite an attractive cast of highly talented performers, which includes Philippe Noiret in his all-to-brief final film appearance, 3 amis fails to make much of an impact.  The situations are banal, the comedy predictable, the storyline bland and routine.  Unlike in Boujenah’s likeable first film, the characters are thinly drawn stereotypes, although the three principals do their absolute best to make it work and succeed in squeezing a few laughs out of a mediocre screenplay.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

Write a review for this film...

What do you think of this film?