Mon meilleur ami (2006) - film review

François Coste is an art dealer who has devoted his entire life to his work, to the extent that he has made no effort to forge lasting personal relationships.  Now middle-aged, he is divorced, has few close friends, and can no longer communicate with his daughter.  But when one of his colleagues tells him that no would bother to show up at his funeral, François becomes anxious, because he knows it to be true.  When he pretends otherwise, his business partner challenges him to produce his best friend within ten days.   To avoid looking ridiculous. François accepts the wager, but wonders if there is anyone in his life who qualifies as a best friend.  Just when all appears lost, François meets a friendly taxi driver named Bruno, who also has few close friends.  Seeing that Bruno has a natural ability to get on with people, François hires him to coach him into being a nicer person.   It suddenly dawns on François that Bruno could pass as his best friend...

With Mon meilleur ami coming hot on the heels of Les Bronzés 3, you could be forgiven for thinking that director Patrice Leconte has regressed to churning out the kind of silly lightweight comedies with which he began his career.  Although there is probably some merit in its central premise, the film fails to deliver more than an inconsequential story with implausible characters navigating their way unconvincingly through the most egregious set of plot contrivances imaginable.  Even with such likeable performers as Daniel Auteuil and Dany Boon the film cannot avoid becoming stale and unbearably daft and predictable.  What should have been a thoughtful and amusing comedy on the value of friendship ends up a grim exercise in time wasting banality.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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I wish my father, an ambulance driver in WWI attached to the French army, was alive to watch this film. I did not appreciate it the first time I saw it. Perhaps, like some French wines, it is an acquired taste.
Albert Gavit (San Diego, USA) 

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