Just Visiting - Die schärfste Zeitreise aller Zeiten!

One of the funniest of the offbeat, little advertised movies I enjoy the most. Underrated and under appreciated by American audiences, slowly making its way to cult status, this tale of a French nobleman and time travel, at the hands of a slightly daffy sorcerer, played by Malcolm McDowell takes place mostly in Chicago. A twist on the "I am my own Grandfather" theme brings the nobleman face to face with distant Granddaughter, who he saves from a decision she would have lived to regret. This is a remake of the French film, "Les Visiteurs". Jean Reno shows his talent for comedy and wit. Thankfully he and Christian Clavier teamed up for the remake. Clavier was allowed to develop a little in the American version. The rest of the cast are enjoyable, and bring together a tight, clean story. Worth the video rental. Good clean fun.

Just Visiting is an American remake (starring the same two main characters) of the excellent French "Les Visiteurs" from 1993. The remake is of course not on par with the original, which is a perfect comedy. The U.S. version is much duller, and marred by several things, such as Jean Reno being too old to successfully reprise his role, and many jokes simply not being very funny.

It gains, however, on two important counts. First, Malcolm McDowell's wizard, who has a much larger and more interesting part in this movie than the original wizard did in the first movie. Second, Christina Applegate's character. She is surprisingly good, and a delight to watch. She's never been a terrible actress, but here she's extraordinary. She plays a kind of good-hearted, intelligent and yet naive character that, to my knowledge, is quite different from the other characters she's played. Where she's often been an air-head bimbo, here she's genuinely appealing; even endearing.

It still does detract from the movie that, to a great degree, it merely goes through the motions of the original movie, trying to mimic the jokes and japes, and very often failing miserably. Still and all, it's worth watching and is better than it might have been.

I rate this one 7 out of 10. You should see the original, though, which is far more inspired and also gives a great impression of spontaneity. I rate the original version 10 out of 10. It's that good.

My brother and I went to this movie and we were the only people in the theater. We laughed so hard I had to go outside of the theater. I thought I was going to pee in my pants it was so funny. I can't say enough about it. Leave your high falutin' film-going skills at the door and laugh. Go. Jean Reno is great both as a romantic character and as a comedian, but when you think of Leon or Ronin, you remember that he could definitely play for laughs. Christian Clavier is hilarious and excellent comedic actor who is unknown to the general US public. Finally, Applegate does some good work playing the straight man/woman. Finally, what was an interesting approach was to take a successful foreign comedy and redo it in the USA. But, they used the same director and actors. It translated well which is unusual for comedies- much harder to cross cultures.

My god, I saw this movie yesterday and I'm still laughing at some of the scenes as I recall them from my memory. This was a hilarious light-hearted movie, perfect (in my opinion) for any sense of humour. It is definitly worth seeing (I saw it on The Movie Network). Perfect for gatherings and general good times.

Four stars on the VitalBird scale. (****) (out of 5, not 10).

Many of the comments here are the usual gripes about remakes. Well, I've never seen "Les Visiteurs" so I'm just looking at this film on its own, and I must say that I was greatly entertained.

Of course, it's a lightweight plot, but Reno and Clavier sink their teeth into the time-travel jokes and manage to be endearing as well as thoroughly crazy. (Especially Clavier, whose scenes among the rich folks reminded me a lot of the Three Stooges' many dinners with the snobs.) Christina Applegate is sincere and appealing, her boyfriend and his bimbo are appalling, and the Chicago scenery is GREAT! (I have to admit my prejudice in that regard, having lived there for many years.) Considering that the remake was done by the men who made the original film, what's the problem? Think of what it would have been like if it starred Adam Sandler and David Spade, for instance. Zut alors!