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My Best Friend
IFC Films


7.0

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 8 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some strong language

Starring Daniel Auteuil, Dany Boon, Julie Gayet, Julie Durand, and Henri Garcin

Francois is a middled-aged antique dealer. He has a stylish apartment and fabulous life, but at a dinner with a group he considers his dearest acquaintances, he is blindsided by the revelation that none of them actually likes him. He's arrogant, self-centered and harsh, and they don't believe he knows the meaning of friendship. His business partner Catherine makes him a bet: if he can produce his best friend, she will let him keep the massive Greek vase he acquired that afternoon on the company tab. If not, it's hers. (IFC Films)

GENRE(S):	Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Olivier Dazat (idea) Patrice Leconte Jérôme Tonnerre
DIRECTED BY:	Patrice Leconte
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: July 13, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	94 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	France
LANGUAGE(S):	French

Alternative Title: Mon Meilleur Ami

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Film Threat James Wegg

More a celebration of movement and music than a parable for our over-communicative, friend-lite, acquaintance-rich society.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Unexpectedly touching -- odd-couple buddy comedy.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

An unlikely comedy charmer.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

A droll, poignant comedy enlivened by two terrific performances.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The film unfolds easily, with affection for the man no one likes, and at 95 minutes it doesn't overstay its welcome.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Leconte's writing is tight and nimble, and while the tests of the duo's friendship are facile, under the circumstances, they make sense. The bond between Francois and Bruno approximates the real thing; Leconte seems to be arguing that you can grow a flower from fake soil.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

My Best Friend, not surprisingly, is about what it means to have friends - and not to have them, to be alone. It's about connection, about trust and vulnerability. That Leconte's little film is a mild-mannered farce, makes the heartache funny, but really, this is serious stuff.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Tries less to dazzle you than reel you in with competence and restraint.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Along the way, My Best Friend offers insights into the emotional and psychological components of both friendliness and friendship. They're not synonymous, though both have value.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The movie is full of holes - it lacks the precision and verve of a Francis Veber farce like "The Dinner Game" - but the two actors brew up a sane kind of comedy from their fractious rapport.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A comforting, sentimental tale of a kind that would be insufferably maudlin if made in Hollywood and unbearably affectless if it showed up at Sundance. Somehow it’s easier to take in French.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Leconte is always a deliriously clever director; his "Ridicule" and his "The Girl on the Bridge" stand out as vivid films on subjects no one in America would even consider. Possibly he's trying too hard here to be liked, just like Francois. But as long as he's merciless, he's great fun.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Too serious to be an out-and-out comedy, too funny not to be one, My Best Friend is a lot easier to enjoy than to classify.

Variety Robert Koehler

Well-turned adult comedy.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Light, airy, and sweet, Patrice Leconte's latest comedy swings his favorite premise--fruitful encounters between opposites--away from romance and into the wistful hunger for friendship in a careerist world.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Terrifically acted, reassuringly formulaic, and moderately amusing.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Patrice Leconte's new film, My Best Friend, is probably his lightest and sweetest to date. Fans of his serious historical dramas ("Ridicule") or raucous farces ("Les Bronzes") may be disappointed, but others should find it a reasonably enjoyable feel-good comedy.

Chicago Tribune Sid Smith

For all its silliness and negligibility--a finale involving the Parisian "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" is one of its sillier, more negligible elements--My Best Friend is an amusing reinvention of "The Odd Couple."

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Mildly entertaining trifle.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Formulaic but entertaining, My Best Friend climaxes with a lengthy, surprisingly heartfelt sequence set on the French version of "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire."

Miami Herald Marta Barber

Although Leconte allows for a certain warmth to run through the film, he thankfully stays away from sentimentality. Therein lays the charm.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

The prolific Patrice Leconte takes a break from mythic, life-and-death scenarios with My Best Friend, a sitcom that threatens to take a rockier emotional path before swerving back into the comfy zone. It’s better when it’s threatening, but Leconte knows his audience.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Not a bad film and veteran star Daniel Auteuil makes any film he inhabits an interesting place to visit. Perversely, its tissue-thin substance may even make the comedy more commercial in North America than such films of his as "Monsieur Hire" and "Ridicule."

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Patrice Leconte has directed excellent serious films such as "Monsieur Hire" and "Man on the Train," but when it comes to humor he loses his bearings. His latest attempt at seriocomedy, My Best Friend, is a premise in search of a film.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

The film's broad attempts at humour are all mouldy bits from Hollywood films.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

By the time director Patrice Leconte arrives at his predictable climax and conventional moral, this lethargic French comedy may not have any friends either.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

If sex, gangsters, and killing Nazis are three of the most enlivening topics in the movies, then let us count friendship as one of the most tiresome, right up there with grooming horses and sharing for sheer thrills.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 8 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

tj gave it a3:
The acting is fine. It seems fine for a while, but ends up being about as bad as an American made for tv movie. Very poor screenplay.

Marc K. gave it a7:
Let's not have parade or anything for this one, but it is sweet and entertaining. Barely rates a "7" in my book, but deserves it just the same.

Jay W gave it a7:
A nice diversion that takes an overly circuitous but usually amusing route to a predictable conclusion. Not as tidy as the better French farces, but until American cinema comes up with something to match we'll settle for this!

VALERIE W. gave it a9:
Sweet and funny film about friendship. Only the French seem to be able to get a film like this right.

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My Best Friend IFC Films

My Best Friend
IFC Films