My Best Friend (2006)
(Mon meilleur ami)
Country: FR/IT
Technical: col/scope 95m
Director: Patrice Leconte
Cast: Daniel Auteuil, Dany Boon, Julie Gayet, Julie Durand, Elizabeth Bourgine
Synopsis:
A selfish and acquisitive antiquarian has privately to take stock of the fact that he has no friends, while at the same time determining to prove to his colleagues that the reverse is true and thus win a bet to keep a classical Greek pot. He enlists the help of a garrulous auto-didact taxi driver in finding friends.
Review:
A profound disappointment, this sentimental comedy succeeds only in making one cringe, with its miscast lead and derivative schema. There is an Amelie-type thing going on at one point, with one scene a straight copy of the blind man routine, complete with accordion music. Then there is the odd couple deal found in the same director's L'Homme du train and the Francis Veber films. Then you have the impossible bet à la Brewster's Millions, and the whimsy of Orchestra Seats. All of this together is so excruciatingly opportunistic and transparent that one has the whole scenario tied up by the end of the first reel, even down to the Saint-Exupéry moral about losing time for someone being the thing that makes them special. If one makes it to the finale, one is treated to nothing less than an Americanized reconciliation 'on air' during an edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire!
(Mon meilleur ami)
Country: FR/IT
Technical: col/scope 95m
Director: Patrice Leconte
Cast: Daniel Auteuil, Dany Boon, Julie Gayet, Julie Durand, Elizabeth Bourgine
Synopsis:
A selfish and acquisitive antiquarian has privately to take stock of the fact that he has no friends, while at the same time determining to prove to his colleagues that the reverse is true and thus win a bet to keep a classical Greek pot. He enlists the help of a garrulous auto-didact taxi driver in finding friends.
Review:
A profound disappointment, this sentimental comedy succeeds only in making one cringe, with its miscast lead and derivative schema. There is an Amelie-type thing going on at one point, with one scene a straight copy of the blind man routine, complete with accordion music. Then there is the odd couple deal found in the same director's L'Homme du train and the Francis Veber films. Then you have the impossible bet à la Brewster's Millions, and the whimsy of Orchestra Seats. All of this together is so excruciatingly opportunistic and transparent that one has the whole scenario tied up by the end of the first reel, even down to the Saint-Exupéry moral about losing time for someone being the thing that makes them special. If one makes it to the finale, one is treated to nothing less than an Americanized reconciliation 'on air' during an edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire!
(Mon meilleur ami)
Country: FR/IT
Technical: col/scope 95m
Director: Patrice Leconte
Cast: Daniel Auteuil, Dany Boon, Julie Gayet, Julie Durand, Elizabeth Bourgine
Synopsis:
A selfish and acquisitive antiquarian has privately to take stock of the fact that he has no friends, while at the same time determining to prove to his colleagues that the reverse is true and thus win a bet to keep a classical Greek pot. He enlists the help of a garrulous auto-didact taxi driver in finding friends.
Review:
A profound disappointment, this sentimental comedy succeeds only in making one cringe, with its miscast lead and derivative schema. There is an Amelie-type thing going on at one point, with one scene a straight copy of the blind man routine, complete with accordion music. Then there is the odd couple deal found in the same director's L'Homme du train and the Francis Veber films. Then you have the impossible bet à la Brewster's Millions, and the whimsy of Orchestra Seats. All of this together is so excruciatingly opportunistic and transparent that one has the whole scenario tied up by the end of the first reel, even down to the Saint-Exupéry moral about losing time for someone being the thing that makes them special. If one makes it to the finale, one is treated to nothing less than an Americanized reconciliation 'on air' during an edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire!