Acensbart
Excellent but underrated film
Humbersi
The first must-see film of the year.
Mandeep Tyson
The acting in this movie is really good.
carbuff
For me it took until about half the way through this movie to really get rolling, but it is a lot of fun once you just relax and enjoy the ride. It's not a deep farce, just an enjoyable one. It has a lot of slapstick, but it's not too heavy mostly, although there is a bit of blood and barbarity in the beginning part set in medieval times. (Possibly some of the harsher parts in the beginning aren't suitable for young children--I'm not sure what goes nowadays. By this I mean a graphic beheading and a couple of deaths by crossbow, both played for humor.) The best thing about this movie is that it doesn't sink to the level of a lowest common denominator comedy and retains some intelligence throughout. Overall, just give it time to build momentum and it's a fun time.
Petri Pelkonen
The year is 1123.A knight and his servant are accidentally sent to the year 1992.These medieval people are pretty much like fish out of water in the modern society.Les Visiteurs (1993) is a comedy film directed by Jean-Marie Poiré.It stars Christian Clavier and Jean Reno.Clavier plays the servant Jacquouille la Fripouille and also his relative of the 90's, Jacquard.Reno plays the part of Godefroy de Papincourt, Comte de Montmirail.Valérie Lemercier does a double role playing Godefroy's love interest Frénegondé de Pouille and the descendant Beatrice de Montmirail.Marie-Anne Chazel plays Ginette la Clocharde.Isabelle Nanty is Fabienne Morlot.I borrowed this movie a little while back from the library.I had seen the film once before, back in 1997.I enjoyed watching it the both times.It was a big hit.So big that it got a sequel and an American version.The movie has many funny slapstick moments, like when those two wash their hands in a toilet and when they cause a flood in the house.This is a very nice time travel movie.The Americans have Back to the Future, the French have The Visitors.You can visit this movie more than once.
Grumpy Pheasant
When this was first released, I remember laughing. Then again, I was 9 or 10 at the time.Now, I'm 27 and I understand why my child self (and, indeed, most of the other children) liked in this movie: the smörgåsbord of juvenile humour: from farts to pulling faces, random fish-out-of-water gags that long outlast their welcome (the "jour/nuit" gag, in particular, goes on for a tedious length of time), adults yelling and more farts.The fact that the whole cast was greatly overacting would obviously have escaped me; the contrived plot contented me. But no more. They've shown it again a few days ago, and this time, I could see this movie for what it is: tripe. A mouthful proved too much, I couldn't finish it.If you're nine, you might enjoy this. Otherwise, probably not.
derzu_uzala
I guess the main thing to be said about "les Visiteurs" is that it hardly makes sense for a non-French-speaking audience to watch it. I shudder to think what it sounds like dubbed, for instance. Plus the elements of French satire are probably not transposable elsewhere.I laughed to tears when I viewed "les Visiteurs" when it was released in France 15 years ago, where it was an immediate box-office hit. Now I must admit it mostly brings a smile there and there. Of course it's me being 15 years older but the movie just hasn't aged well. The directing is mediocre at best, the cheap CGI is horrendous, and Marie-Anne Chazel's character as a tramp grates on one's nerves. There still remains the altogether funny plot, the hilarious performances by Reno, Clavier and Lemercier, as well as the (then) cult dialogs.Watcheable if you like French comedies, but don't get your hopes too high. In the same vein "Les Bronzés" (part I & II) is far superior. And incidentally Les Visiteurs part II was embarrassingly bad.
