Who Is Your Best Friend?
Written: Jul 15 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fun, pleasant, great cast, good acting, nice message
Cons: Not as funny as it could have been
The Bottom Line: My Best Friend is a fun, pleasant, nice film with a message that makes you smile.
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| jordango's Full Review: My Best Friend |
Daniel Auteuil has a wonderfully expressive, comedic face. He has appeared in many films over his 50+ years on this planet, many reaching these shores (my personal favorite of his is the wonderfully funny The Closet). Whenever I see a movie with Auteuil, I invariably like it. My Best Friend is no exception. While it could have been much better, it is a very nice movie with a nice message. I found myself being entertained for the entire 94 minutes. Subtitled from French, My Best Friend was directed by Patrice Leconte.
Short Synopsis
In My Best Friend, Auteuil plays Francois Coste, an antiques dealer who has lots of business acquaintances but no friends. He has a 20 something daughter, Louise (Julie Durand) who he cares about, but doesn't spend any time with, a girlfriend, Marianne (Audrey Marnay) who he sees when it's convenient, and a business partner, Catherine (Julie Gayet) who challenges him to be a better person. Catherine sees Francois clearly, and when she holds up a mirror to his life, he doesn't like what he sees - he has no friends.
It all starts at an antiques auction that Catherine and Francois attend. Francois becomes enamored with a 15th century vase and outbids everyone for it, bidding $200,000 euros, or ten times more than he and Catherine agreed to spend that day. The vase borrows from Greek literature, including a story on it of two best friends. When one dies, the other is so sad that he fills the huge vase up with tears. Catherine challenges Francois, telling him that he has no friends. She then makes a bet with him - if he doesn't produce his best friend in ten days, she will own the vase 100% (they each own half). If he does, he owns it.
So, he goes about trying to find his best friend. Calling all sorts of old friends from school, he sadly realizes that he has no friends. They all reject him, telling him that he hasn’t contacted them in months or years, has never asked them anything about themselves, and has shown that he doesn’t care about anything other than business.
Along the way, Francois meets Bruno, a gregarious cab driver, Bruno (Dany Boon). Bruno has facts for everything, knowing little-known details about who lived where when, who invented ink or paper or cereal, food allergies and more. Bruno's dream is to appear on a quiz show, but his nerves make him mess up every time he auditions.
Estranged from his wife, Bruno tries desperately to look on the bright side of everything. He makes friends with everyone he meets. As a result, when Francois needs help making he friends, he asks Bruno to help him. and he goes about helping Francois learn how to make friends.
No matter how many lessons Francois receives, he has to learn many things on his own. Most important is the first rule of friendship - to have friends, you must first be a friend. He only cares about business. Once Francois learns this and a few other things, he overcomes the hurdle of only caring about business and becomes a much better person.
My Best Friend uses the familiar love story plot tricks to tell its story (boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back), with Francois and Bruno in the boy girl roles. However, this is not a love story, but a story of how to make friends told in a very sweet way.
Friendship Lessons Fall Short
My Best Friend is not a perfect film. The scenes where Bruno was helping Francois to make friends could have been very funny. Instead, they are amusing and pleasant. They are not nearly as funny as they could have been. I found myself smiling more than laughing out loud during much of the movie.
However, the lessons are fun at all times, no matter what Francois does. Bruno might wince a little at some of Francois's transgressions, but we wince right along with him. And that makes us feel good when Francois does well, which of course, he learns to do.
Still, a few really funny scenes would have helped from an entertainment standpoint. And, of course, Bruno needs a few lessons himself. And we all are teachers, so...
Great Cast
My Best Friend is helped greatly by its excellent cast. Auteil is excellent as usual and turns in a nice performance as Francois. You never find yourself disliking him even though he is more self-centered than you would like him to be. However, Francois is charming at all times, which makes him likeable. Plus, he is very competent at his job, and this is apparent in the movie as well. It also makes him more three-dimensional, as while he is bumbling through life in the friendship department, he is not a complete train wreck.
Bruno is also three-dimensional. While gregarious, he is lonely. Most of the time, he is not much different than Francois. He even says at one point that "If you make friends with everyone, you are friends with no one." In truth, the two of them are not that much different.
Catherine cares deeply about Francois. She is not in love with him, as she is a lesbian. But she wishes for a deeper friendship instead of a mere business relationship with Francois.
Louise needs her father to love and support her, not just support her. And she needs him to be there for him. In lots of ways, Bruno teaches Francois to do that.
The supporting cast includes Bruno's parents, played wonderfully by Jacques Mathou and Marie Pillet, who nearly steal every scene that they are in. They are both relentlessly supportive of their son and at the same time provide comic relief throughout. Henri Garcin adds color as an antiques collector who wants the vase that Francois bought. Other characters of note include Elisabeth Bourgine who plays Catherine's girlfriend, Julia and Audrey Marnay, who is extremely tolerant as Francois’ lover, Marianne.
My Best Friend is directed by Patrice Leconte and written by Leconte, Oliver Dazat (who came up with the idea) and Jerome Tonnerre.
Cons
While My Best Friend is a good movie, the letdown is that it could have been great. It’s a movie that you like to be with, but not one that you have to be with. The plot is predictable, which is okay, but the pacing is a little slow, and the movie is just a little less funny than it could have been. Also, the way that people talk to Francois is completely unrealistic, as the things they say to him about being friends with him or not are things that people would think but not say.
Bottom Line
My Best Friend is nice movie with a great cast and a good message. It could have been great, but I guess we have to settle for very good.
copyright 2007, jordango
Details
Directed by
Patrice Leconte
Written by
Patrice Leconte
Oliver Dazat
Jerome Tonnerre
Cast
Daniel Auteuil...............Francois Coste
Dany Boon....................Bruno Bouley
Julie Gayet……............Catherine
Julie Durand.................Louise Coste
Henri Garcin…..............Etienne Delamotte
Jacques Mathou..............Mr. Bouley
Marie Pillet….................Mrs. Bouley
Elisabeth Bourgine..........Julia
Audrey Marnay…………Marianne
Runtime................94 minutes
Rating...................PG-13
Subtitled from French
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jordango
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Member: Jordan Gold
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
Reviews written: 167
Trusted by: 93 members
About Me:
Another beautiful day in southern California!
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