French movies

Last night I went to see a French film with my french friend and it was absolutely French...
I could barely last through the end, and maybe that was partly because some of the dialogue was hard to follow, but mostly because the movie had all the elements of French culture that I don't really understand! The long idealistic lectures on life, the superfluous show of emotion, the depressing fin...there were some funny parts, but it was "French funny" which is never really that funny to English speakers. Then, in the end...there's a death, and for 20 minutes there is crying, and commenting, and crying again and hugging...quelle horreur...
My buddy, on the other hand, absolutely loved the film. All the parts I thought were horrible and cliche were exactly the parts he loved....In fact, everyone in the theater absolutely loved this film. As they left I heard them saying things like, "oh the end, that was so hard to watch. I was crying all over the place" and "That was one of the funniest films of the year, but wow that ending really got me"
..le sigh
I guess I still have a lot to learn.