dany boon Tagged Articles at Cinematical

One of my favorite films from TIFF last year -- Patrice Leconte's Mon Meilleur Ami -- just hit theaters a few days ago, and somehow I missed it. Luckily, it's not too late to go on about why you should see this movie. Why do I care? Beyond the fact that it is an entertaining, solid comedy, we've got a chance here to patronize a great foreign language film and show that North America can handle a non-English film that isn't directed by Mel Gibson or Clint Eastwood. In February, I posted about how Brian Grazer and Universal were already gearing up for an English-language remake. But why bother when the film is now on the big screen?

Mon Meilluer Ami, which is titled My Best Friend for North American audiences, is about François Coste (Daniel Auteuil), a completely conceited art dealer who is stunned to learn that none of his so-called friends like him. Of course, he denies the accusation, and his business partner makes a bet with him -- he can keep an expensive Greek vase he picked up with their business' money if he can produce a genuine best friend. If he can't, the vase is hers. After stumbling upon an eternally-jovial cabbie a few times, he hires the man to teach him how to find a friend.

You can check out the trailer over at the film's website. The film is only in limited release now, but hopefully all of you lovely cinemagoers will patronize the available screenings like mad and inspire IFC to send the film to more theaters.

*A guest review today, from Nick Schager, of Slant Magazine


There's nothing new about the films of Francis Veber, director of The Dinner Game and The Closet. Decidedly old-school throwbacks to both classic Hollywood comedies of manners and bouncy French farces, the filmmaker's hits are pure superficiality, their intricate plot machinations and oversized performances containing barely a whiff of emotional or intellectual depth. Veber isn't about character development or thematic subtext; he's about light, frolicsome fun, the kind in which myriad strangers find themselves hopelessly embroiled in outrageous circumstances, and then stumble and bumble their way out of trouble and into love. With The Valet, he continues his career dedication to fanciful humor, spinning a tangled yarn about a restaurant valet, his small business-owning love interest, a corporate bigwig, his cold, greedy wife, and his supermodel lover, all of whom find their fates intertwined after a tabloid photographer takes an ill-advised picture.

The snapshot in question is of CEO Pierre Levasseur (Daniel Auteuil) and his gorgeous celebrity mistress Elena (Alice Taglioni), and it threatens to ruin Levasseur if it leads to divorce, as his wife Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas, speaking seamless French) is the majority shareholder in his companies. As a random passerby is also featured in the photo, Pierre claims that Elena was actually with this stranger, a cover story that forces Pierre to find the man and pay him to pose as Elena's lover for the paparazzi hordes. After an amazingly quick search, the innocent sap in question turns out to be François Pignon (Gad Elmaleh) – the name of most of Veber's naïve protagonists – a porter who lives with his clingy best friend Richard (Dany Boon) and who has recently had his marriage proposal rebuffed by lifelong love and deep-in-debt bookstore proprietor Emilie (Virginie Ledoyen), who is being aggressively pursued by a sleazy cell phone salesman (Patrick Mille).