Let's Be Friends

Let's Be Friends (Je préfère qu'on reste amis…, 2005) is a French romantic comedy you can watch online on iFILM. Directors Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache — the pair who later made The Intouchables — tell the story of two friends hunting for love with equal and spectacular failure. Jean-Paul Rouve plays Claude, shy to the point of paralysis. His friend Serge charms every woman he meets and loses them just as fast.

Together they work through speed dating, self-help groups and gate-crashing strangers' weddings. Gérard Depardieu and Annie Girardot add weight to the supporting cast. The film runs 100 minutes and keeps the comedy dry, human and French in the best sense — no slapstick, no shouting, just the quiet embarrassment of two grown men who have no idea what they're doing.

This is where Toledano and Nakache were still finding their voice, six years before The Intouchables made them famous. Worth watching for exactly that reason. Stream Let's Be Friends (2005) online on iFILM.