A watchable yet completely inconsequential Gallic dramedy which shattered box office records in its home country. A simple plot description should set off schmaltz alarms: Philippe (Cluzet), a wheelchair-bound white millionaire, hires Driss (Sy), an ex-con black male nurse, to take care of him. Friendship and enlightenment follow, as do comic misunderstandings and soul-baring witching-hour conversations that delve into the unspeakable.

There isn’t a rough-edged subtlety that the film – based on a true story – doesn’t make every effort to soften for mass consumption. Cluzet and Sy nonetheless make for ingratiating foils; the extended opening sequence in which the duo outwits a pair of cops like Laurel and Hardy could be a stellar short comedy if it weren’t married to the deadly self-serious shtick that follows. Keith Uhlich