My Best Friend

This is one of those French comedies that will inevitably be remade in Hollywood, and with all Gallic suavity removed will be revealed as empty-headed. Director Patrice Leconte leavens the frivolity with his usual seriousness, as does French star Daniel Auteuil, but the film is unabashedly implausible right through to its game show climax. Auteuil is passionate about his art collecting, but disconnected from people. When his lovely partner tells him he has no friends, they wind up making a bet over whether he has an actual best friend. You know how it goes -- all the “friends” he approaches can’t really stand him, so he meets an unlikely, likable acquaintance whom he tries to pass off as his best friend. This cabbie is appeallingly played by Dany Boon, previously unknown to me, but despite some manufactured shocks, the story doesn’t go anywhere you don’t expect and doesn’t unearth any hidden truths, satisfied to be a pleasant fantasy with a simpleminded message. The cultural milieu, however, is well depicted, and the sentiment is not too sickeningly sweet. (2007, dvd, n.) *6+* (MC-65.)