Phil note from 2012 - Here's another of my reviews from three years ago. At the time it was rumored Wes Anderson was writing an American remake of this; obviously that never happened.
Word on the street that Wes Anderson's next project is a remake of the
french film "Mon Meilleur Ami" aka "My Best Friend". Released in 2006
this film apparently was noticed by foreign movie fans when it was first
released in America, but I have no recollection of it. The plot revolves
around a rich antique dealer, Francois who is confronted by his gallery
partner and acquaintances at a dinner one night after attending the
sparsely attended funeral of one of his former clients. Upon remarking
on the fact that only seven friends & family (including himself)
showed up at this memorial, the rest of his dining partner turn on him
and declare he'll have no one at his funeral. Turns out he has no
friends. When he protests, his smoking hot partner Catherine bets him
the 200,000 euro ancient Greek statue he had just purchased at an
auction that he can't produce a best friend in 10 days.
This
leads him to discover that French people are real assholes when
encounters various people and tries to befriend them. One person
randomly keeps popping into his life, a taxi driver named Bruno.
Noticing that Bruno is the gregarious type, he asks for tips on making
friends. This leads to some sitcomy like adventures until Francois
realizes that he's becoming friends with Bruno. They see a soccer match,
they meet each other's families, all seems awesome. He blows it however
when tries to go to far in proving to Catherine and his asshole
acquaintances that he has made a buddy. This reveals to Bruno that their
friendship was the result of a bet which leads to the last half hour of
the film as Francois shows everyone he's learned his lesson.
I
have mixed feelings about this film. It was enjoyable enough and the
performances were good all around. I chuckled a few times at some funny
bits, but for the most part the comedy seemed to be at the level of your
basic Hollywood screenplay. It wasn't cliche, but there were moments
where characters' reactions or witty remarks made it seem so. It was
much better than the average processed comedy coming out every week here
though. Francois' journey for a friend brings up some interesting
thinking points and Bruno has a deep enough backstory that slowly leaks
out.
Right from the get go I was struck by how assholeish the
majority of the characters were in this movie. Francois is supposably so
cynical, selfish, and work-oriented that he hasn't accumulated any
friends over his 50 years of life. However, when that's revealed 10
minutes or so into the movie at a dinner, I was feeling sympathy toward
him instead of scorn. He hadn't come off as a jerk really, and all of a
sudden these French antique dealers are saying how much they hate him,
even though they spend a ton of time with him. It was kind of
ridiculous. He sees a woman at the opposite end of the table and asks
his partner who that is, since she's kind of cute. Catherine, his
partner, responds that it's her girlfriend. Francois is kind of taken
aback because it turns out he didn't know she was a lesbian. This is the
boiling point which leads everyone to personally attack him. We are
constantly reminded by different characters that Francois has no friends
because he's an asshole, but everytime he tries to have a civil
conversation with either his acquaintances or a stranger, he gets
insulted. The only time he really insults someone himself is during the
part of the movie where he's attending find-a-friend functions to find a
best friend quickly. He's approached by the geekiest man ever who tries
to bond with Francois over their mutual lack of friends. Francois
pretty much ignores him and walks away, but the guy was a total spaz. He
tracks down his best friend from junior high who also looks like a spaz
and says he hated him in junior high as well.
Bruno is a trivia
buff who knows a bunch of useless crap, but he gets too nervous
everytime he auditions for the French "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire".
He's friendly to everyone he meets, but has no friends either. He says
at one point to Francois that having no friends and having everyone as
your friend is the same thing. He seems like a great guy and the scenes
of him and Francois hanging out are really fun to watch. This movie
falls into the trap of having that "person A does something to person B
for the wrong reason, but ends up better because of it, person B finds
out and doesn't want anything to do with person B" cliche that almost
every movie has. It's not as bad in this one, but still somewhat forced.
The
vase Francois is attracted to so strongly, strongly enough to pay 200
grand for, is an ancient Greek vase in tribute of friendship. He outbids
a couple of other people for it, including one rich TV producer who
offers to give him a blank check for it. The vase was made for a man in
honor of his dead friend, a man who was so saddened that he filled the
vase with his tears. Achilles and Patroclus are the focus of the vase
which is weird since they were cousins who had sex with each other,
which is a little more than friendship.
The major weakness in
this movie is that the story is filled with minor plot holes and events
that never get followed up on. Catherine is pretty much the 3rd main
character in the movie, but other than knowing she's a lesbian and
Francois' partner, she only seems to exist to move the plot along.
Francois' daughter appears early on having a sneezing fit. Then it turns
out she lives with her father, but parties every night. When she meets
Bruno, who stayed overnight at Francois' house after a bout of drinking,
he helps her discover a food allergy that had tormented her throughout
her life. This makes Francois appreciate Bruno even more, but we barely
know his daughter and the only time we've really seen her is when she's
agreeing that her father is a jerk with no friends. There is one
character who's purpose might have gone right over my head. Francois has
a fuckbuddy it seems, who's actually at the dinner where he's challeged
to find a best friend. I don't know who she is, but apparently she
wasn't his friend even though the only other times we see her are either
after she's spent that night at Francois' place, at a party with him,
and interupting his night of fun with Bruno in search for some sex. I
don't know why a booty call would be interacting with his work
acquaintances, but that's what happens. A stronger screenwriter and/or
director would have either tightened the script and made every scene
seem valuable.
I look forward to Wes Anderson's adaptation. I
imagine he'll only take the basic story (Man is bet that he can't find a
friend in 10 days) and work from there. This movie is very un-Wes
Anderson, but the plot could be. He has a history of making
unsympathetic characters the focus of his plots, which might've been a
factor in his interest in this story. This original French version is
somewhat pedestrian at times, but can be entertaining. It would appeal
to the average moviewatcher as Saturday night DVD movie or something.
Better this than "The Proposal".
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