A Tale of Two Men
Written: Oct 22 '07 (Updated Oct 23 '07)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Bang For The Buck |
 |
|
|
Pros: Good acting by all, nice warm story, light humor
Cons: Predictability, weak ending
The Bottom Line: This is a movie which easily could have been mundane and easily forgettable. It isn't mainly because of the fine acting ability of the two leads and the direction.
|
|
|
| johnkyle's Full Review: My Best Friend |
Director Patrice Leconte’s Mon Meilleur Ami (My Best Friend) tells a simple, often predictable, tale of a man trying to find friendship or, more specifically, a man trying to find a friend – any friend. The result is a sometimes light, sometimes moving and often insightful comedy-drama.
Francois Coste (Daniel Auteuil), a middle-aged antique dealer and divorcee, has become so self-absorbed and distanced from the world around him that he is completely unaware that his business partner Caroline (Julie Gayet) is a lesbian; that he is alienating himself from a lady friend who is attracted to him; and, that he has so neglected his college-aged daughter Louise (Julie Durand) that he does not even seem to be interested in finding out the cause of her “asthma attacks”. Furthermore, he sincerely believes that his successful, well organized life has produced numerous friends over the years. Then reality strikes. During a dinner party, Caroline, still upset over her partner impulsively buying an expensive Grecian vase that they cannot afford, tells him that he is completely unlikable and has no friends. At best, he only has acquaintances and business contacts. Several others of those present second her comments and when Francois protests, saying that he has many friends, she offers a bet. He has ten days to present a person, any person, who can state that he is one of the art dealer’s best friends. If he cannot do so, then she gets full possession of the vase. Thus starts an ego-driven, increasingly desperate race to find a friend. Francois buys books dealing with friendships, attends Dale Carnegie-style seminars, talks to strangers on the street, and even searches the Internet. All attempts are failures. His offer to buy a round of drinks on the house quickly empties a bar. He locates his “best friend” from junior high and “accidentally” runs into him at a grocery store where he is told by his “friend” that he had actually considered Francois to be a pompous bully and by all present indications he still is one.
During this process he meets a cab driver, Bruno Bouley (Dany Boon), a pleasant, warm, trivia-spouting chap who seems to have a knack for making complete strangers feel at home. Intrigued, Francois eventually asks Bruno to tutor him in the art of friendship beginning with, as Bruno informs him, the three S’s – be sociable, smiling, and sincere. Their relationship appears to grow but it is actually one-sided as Francois is unable to see that Bruno is also a lonely individual without friends. In reality, Bruno spends most of his evening hours with his parents or in devouring books to learn every fact known to mankind, hoping one day to appear on a quiz show.
In a self-centered move, Francois, taking advantage of Bruno’s apparent faith in him, involves the cab driver in an outrageous plan that he hopes will prove to Catherine and the others that Bruno is a true friend. When the plan backfires, it leaves Bruno, who did not realize the real purpose of the plan, feeling angry, humiliated and hurt. Furthermore, it destroys the naive Bruno’s trust in Francois and leaves his partner, business associates, and Louise disgusted at his behavior. Finally realizing that he has been a fool, Francois begins a period of introspection and hoping to redeem himself, if only in his own eyes, he secretly arranges for Bruno to appear on the French version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. As a result, Francois, in a contrived but still enjoyable, denouement is fully redeemed.
One could nit-pick at this movie in many ways. As mentioned before, it is predictable almost from the start. There are several lightly humorous scenes which could have been funnier with a different approach. The Millionaire segment probably could have been shortened by a few minutes. From their first meeting, there seems to be a natural attraction and affection between Bruno, whose wife deserted him, and Louise which could have been developed but wasn’t. The final scene or two are, in my opinion, weak. Yet, despite these “flaws”, I give Mon Meilleur Ami four stars. Why? For several reasons. The first few are based on personal biases: there may be some things that I don’t like about the French, but my wife and I love their movies; predictability in a movie doesn’t bother me if I like the basic story and this one I liked; and, although I like side-splitting humor, I can enjoy light humor as well. One example from this film: As Bruno is leaving his parents’ residence, his mother admonishes him to “drive home safely”. We then see him get into his cab and drive a half block to his own apartment.
But there are other, more important, reasons for liking this movie. The two lead actors, Daniel Auteuil and Dany Boon, are excellent. Despite Francois’ nastiness, despite his enormous self-centered ego, and despite his materialistic view of life, Auteuil is able to imbue his character with a certain sadness. Bruno could easily have come across as a pleasant but obnoxious and boring pest. Instead, Boon, through words and expressions, convincingly brings out that under the cab driver’s easy-going facade there lies a fragile and vulnerable human being. The bottom line is that we feel empathy for both characters. We want them to succeed. And, then there is the overlying theme of the movie – what constitutes real friendship? In a society today where a “what can you do for me?” attitude seems too often to prevail, the movie is suggesting that maybe individuals should evaluate and question their own view of relationships. Maybe in doing so, they may discover that “what can I do for you?” is the answer. A careful viewer can leave Mon Meilleur Ami feeling warm while at the same time unsettled.
Mon Meilleur Ami is available on DVD. An American version, now in the planning stages, is scheduled for release in 2009.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Feel-good Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
johnkyle
|
|
Member: John Davis
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
Reviews written: 5
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.