The Visitors
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Movie Reviews of The Visitors
Movie Review: The Best!
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't imagine anyone being able to keep from laughing throughout this film! If you hate subtitles, watch this anyway. Believe me, you'll soon forget they're there. The facial expressions alone are priceless! I can't recommend a better comedy than this.Movie Review: Wow
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow. That was SUCH a FUNNY movie!! Wow is really all i can say. My mom and I were laughing so hard I think my mom feel out of her chair at one point. It is deffinently something you should go see.Movie Review: Merci mes bons Amis !
Summary: 4 Stars
you American people writting reviews on Amazon just rock my world !!!
I was very glad and shall I admit, surprised to see so many great reviews of this film that is a total French modern classic. I never thought that this kind of very French and sometimes perhaps not so subtle humour would cross over well to the States. Apparently it does, it's true that after American Pie and such, who could cast the first stone to blame the not so subtle jokes... ;o)
anyway, don't feel offended.
So this film is a classic in France, I saw it for the first time when I was 7 or 8 and it was just one of my favourites, the dialogues were all over the playground and lines : "c'est OKKKKKKK!" and "mais qu'est ce que c'est que ce bins ?!" as well as the now famous light joke "jour. nuit." and the crazy "mais Monsieur Ouille, pas avec votre poncho !!!" are still ringing a bell for any French person who hasn't lived as an hermit for the last 15 years.
This film comes from a long and prolific tradition of French comedies starting in the late 70's with the Bande du Splendid, a group of actors and comics working together and eventually making it extremely big in France. Their all time classic, possibly the single most famous French film ever (at least in France) "Santa Close is a bastard" (I don't know the official american title for "le père Noël est une ordure"). This film was a play before (if you ask me better than the film) and is completely zany and very rude, crude, politically incorrect and simply hillarious. If your francophilia or curiousity asks for something to watch with friends, try to find the film. It's just CULT in France, every Christmas you see it on TV (better than the Wizard of Oz ;o)
To go with Les Visiteurs and Le père Noël, I also recommand Les Bronzés (the suntanned ??) especially the sequel Les Bronzés font du ski (even better than the original). With the same actors (Clavier, Lhermitte, Chazel, Jugniot...)that traces the 'adventures' of a group of middle class friends, first on some touristic island ressort and then skying in the Alpes. These films are extremely funny and are classics as well.
If you appreciate Thierry Lhermitte (who was reaaaally cute in his time) you may want to check out the more recent Le Placard (the closet) and Dinner Game, in which he excels as usual. These comedies are in the same tradition even though slightly more elaborate.
As many have underlined, language is very important in French films, even if slapstick is also a great favorite, therefore everything might not come through subtitles, but these films are so funny that the subtitles cannot completely kill that.
The very best French comedy of the last years was Asterix and Obelix Mission Cleopatra,it is extremely referential in its humour so I don't really know how much is understandable by a foreign audience who knows nothing about Canal + and its particular humour, however it is really untertaining and very glossy/fancy (very expansive for a French film) so check it out if you feel down, the allusions to American culture are plenty and friendly. (yes, guess what: the French are not American haters, they just have a critical mind and hate Freedom fries ;op )
I put 4 * and not 5 because as a cinephile I consider that Les Visiteurs is not quality quality; but that's just because I am elitist. In terms of cheer entertainment and laughs it is worth 5*.
Movie Review: J'adore ce film!
Summary: 4 Stars
This is supposedly the highest grossing French movie of all time. I believe it. This movie is well-acted and supurbly scripted.
Jean Reno stars as the civilized brute, Godefroy le Hardi, living in the 1100s with his vassal, Jacquouille la Fripouille, played by Christian Clavier. Godefroy wishes to return to the past to correct a grave error, but the very old, possible senile, wizard omits the "oeufs de caille" from the recipe and Godefroy and Jacquouille find themselves in the future.
Godefroy finds his "petite-petite-petite-petite fille" Béatrice de Montmirail, played superbly by Valerie Lemercier, who has modern French aristocratic tics down pat. He is disgusted to find that his Chateau is now a hotel in the hands of a nouveau-riche commoner, Jacquard also played by Clavier. Without telling the whole story, Godefroy is, of course, trying to get back to the past to be with his beloved Dame Frenegonde, also played by Lemercier.
The acting in this movie is fantastic, the main characters, Reno, Clavier, Lemercier and Marie-Anne Chazal are all very funny. The supporting cast is just as good, with the beautiful Isabelle Nanty playing a gossipy, litiginous executive assistant and Christian Bujeau as Béatrice de Montmirail's high-strung, dentist husband.
There is a lot of word play between the medieval French spoken by Godefroy and Jacquouille and modern French. The English sub-titles leave quite a bit to be desired, as they don't do a very good job conveying this. If you don't speak French you may find that this movie relies heavily on sight gags because the complex language jokes are lost in translation. However, I have watched this with non-French speaking friends before and they have still enjoyed the movie very much. If you speak French you will enjoy this movie tremendously. I am a fluent speaker and it has taken me several watchings to get all the subtleties of language in this movie. I laugh out loud each time I watch it. It remains to this day, 10 years after I first saw it in the theater and countless movies later, one of my all-time favorites!
I give this edition of the movie a 4 out of 5 for a few reasons, none related to the movie itself, but still minor annoyances that detract from the film. For example, you cannot turn off the subtitles as far as I can tell. Additionally, the English subtitles aren't entirely faithful to what is said on screen. This doesn't detract from the film but it is still obnoxious, there are no bonus materials at all with this DVD.
Despite these minor things I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good, accessible French comedy, especially if you are a fan of Reno or Clavier.
Movie Review: Medieval on your Glutemus Maximus
Summary: 4 Stars
If you enjoy Monty Python or physical humor you should enjoy this movie. There certainly is intellectual humor as well but with a little less gusto. Fans of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" should definitely catch it. Jean Reno is great as a Count that accidentally kills his father-in-law to be after a witch puts a spell on him. He must then call on his wizard to set things right. The wizard can't bring the man back to life so he sends Reno and his squire through time. The problem is they go the wrong way and end up in current time. They find themseles having a Don Quixote experience, but fighting automobiles, a chef, and the police instead. After being shipped off to the looney bin a distant descendant starts to believe in him and comes to his rescue.
This movie only comes with English subtitles and not dubbing. That is probably just as well since I have heard some terrible dubbing in other Jean Reno films. I highly recommend this comedy for some good laughs. If I have any complaint it is that you will enjoy it more if you speak French. My step daughter does and got more out of it since she pointed out there is some changes in the English subtitles to tame it down. Still enjoyable, but as one astute reviewer pointed out they need to use the same subtitles they used on the VHS. If you aren't big on foreign movies you may want to catch "Just Visiting" with Jean Reno and Christina Applegate instead. Basicly an Americanized version of the same story. The style is similar to the "Pink Panther" comedies.