Parisian antiquarian Francois (Auteuil) is the classic example of a man who knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing.

We first meet him hassling a bereaved mother about a period piece belonging to her dead son before the coffin is even in the ground.

Next up he's joshing cheerily with a group of friends from the industry over a couple of glasses of wine and a bite to eat.

The trouble is they're not his friends. He thinks they are. But they're not. It's a self-deception that intrigues his business partner Catherine (Gayet)...so she makes a bet that he won't be able to bowl up with a buddy by the appointed day.

The stakes are high - Francois's dignity...and a 200,000 Euro vase dating back to 5th century Ancient Greece.

Realising he must start from scratch, the socially inept Francois frantically seeks advice from self-help books as well as accosting gaggles of apparent friends for the secret of personal success.

His luck changes when he meets jovial taxi driver Bruno (Boon), a general knowledge obsessed cabbie who comes across as the Parisian equivalent of Mastermind winner Fred Housego.

Bruno's watchwords are to be "social, sincere and smile" ...but his puppyish bonhomie is cynically manipulated by the Francoise in a vindictive machiavellian twist.

Director Patrice Leconte provides an interesting insight into the subject of male friendships. Rarely are they broached as main storyline and the last place you might expect to see them is a light French comedy.

Ultimately. it's touching to watch the unabashed fondness between the two characters flourish - it's a masculine side all too often obscured by bravado.

Sorrel Rix