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 notice 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".
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
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