Mon Meilleur Ami (Patrice Leconte, 2006)

My Best Friend lets permafixture of French cinema of the last twenty years, Daniel Auteuil, exercise his harassed hangdog character to the full as antisocial Paris antique dealer Francois Coste, who's challenged by his business partner to come up with proof of having at least one friend. His path eventually crosses that of a quizshow-obsessive taxi driver (Dany Boon) who agrees to take him under his wing to give him pointers on how to avoid scaring people off.
All the ingredients for a light comedy, then, in the mould of Le Dîner de Cons, but this is Patrice Leconte and the closest he ever gets to comedy is something like the combat of acid wit of 1996's Ridicule. The intent here is clearly social comment on loneliness, but the point gets lost amidst Coste's circle of accusers all coming across as lacking human warmth far more than the accused, whereas he should have started out truly unlikeable to pack some emotional welly into his inevitable Damascene conversion. Still, a dependably Auteuilistic turn and an endearing one from Boon pull us through the briars.

6/10