My Best Friend (2007)

Fuddy Buddy

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy My Best Friend on DVD

The French director Patrice Leconte makes good-looking entertainments that, despite the presence of black-and-white film (Girl on the Bridge) or a message (The Widow of St. Pierre), will never be mistaken for high art. Now he takes on a Preston Sturges-type comedy about a callous antique dealer (Daniel Auteuil), who on a bet, promises to conjure up a best friend even though he has none. A friendly, sad-sack cabbie (Dany Boon), who specializes in trivia, coincidentally enters the picture; we get the usual romantic comedy-type fluff about betrayals and realizations. It's a pleasant enough diversion, but it's not really about human beings and contains not one genuine laugh. It also smells ripe for an American remake with Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell.

DVD Details: The 2007 Region 1 DVD, from IFC and the Weinstein Company, comes with two extras: a making-of featurette (26 minutes) -- with actualy on-set footage -- and a trailer. The movie comes with optional English and Spanish subtitles, and also English captions for the hearing impaired. The disc also includes trailers at startup for Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman, This Is England, After the Wedding and Private Fears in Public Places.

Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Dany Boon, Julie Gayet, Julie Durand
Written by: Patrice Leconte
Directed by: Patrice Leconte
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some strong language
Language: French with English subtitles
Running Time: 94 minutes
Date: July 13, 2007