My Best Friend (Mon meilleur ami)

"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..."

"An uncharacteristically light offering from the prolific Leconte whose previous pictures (Monsieur Hire, Intimate Strangers) have shown an unerring feel for the dark underbelly of human emotion, this is yet another demonstration of the staggering versatility of Auteuil, surely the finest French actor of his generation..."

"While some ad hoc details paper over holes in a contrived plot, Boon steals the show as the rubber-faced Everyman who offers a new lease on life to the urbane broker who thought he already had everything. Like Bruno, My Best Friend finds the sophisticated and profound in the simple..."

"One looks to Leconte for some of the finest, most sophisticated and compassionate filmmaking coming out of France, not for a situation comedy. "My Best Friend" is 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..."

"Reteaming with Intimate Strangers co-writer Jerome Tonnerre, Leconte's script is filled with character and incident (including a hilarious extended finale involving the French version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire) and has a rich vein of mordant humour. Although the film's borrowing from everything from The Odd Couple to more recent French fare like The Valet and Ruby & Quentin leaves few surprises, Friend succeeds because of its fresh performances, quirky characters and souffle-like tone..."

"The always reliable Auteuil invests his deluded anti-hero with a touching pathos that offsets his crushing insensitivity, while Leconte's polished direction is as urbane and sophisticated as ever; for all that, it's evident that both director and star are punching considerably below their weight..."