Los visitantes

Valerie Lemercier is outstanding in this farce in which the French, unusually, laugh at themselves. Jean Reno is as always a solid presence. But Lemercier is that most unusual of creatures, a female clown of genius. Her voice -A Montpellier accent- her walk and gestures as a BCBG aristocrat caught up in ridiculous adventures are perfect and endlessly funny. Lemercier is a woman of high intelligence and varied talents--always the best type for a clown

I'm Chinese who reside in Sydney, Australia, and was fortunate to have a government operated television studio to show foreign programs in its original language with English subtitles.

More fortunate isn't because of the showing of the Hong Kong Kung-Fu films but the funniest film in anyone's language ‘Les Visiteurs'. As the English subtitles has already provided so much enjoyment to the film, I would assume most of the French would have laugh until they start coughing, to the extended of suffering from a sore throat.

OOOKAY!! – Which was frequently used in the film deliverers the impact to some the comic relief, but from my point of view, it is not a simple comedy to make. Some research was properly done to imagine someone who had lived in the middle ages, not forgetting their customs and habits from that era, then place them to the present day, you will end up witnessing similar chaos and disasters that is far worse than Mr. Bean.

My favorite is when they call the car a ‘chariot', also the subtitles is presented with Medieval English, I would imagine the same in French.

This is not doubt the funniest movie I have seen in my lifetime, the way they mess up the bathroom made me though it was stupid at first, but then I realize it actually make sense, as this is how they clean themselves back in the middle ages. This film beats my funniest English film, which is ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' directed by Yoda (i.e. Frank Oz)

I just finished watching the movie, and it was hilarious. I was laughing outloud at many many points. However, as my title indicated, it was the original french track that made me laugh. As is always the case for biliguals, one cant help but listen to the track and read the subtitles at the same time. Unfortunately, the subtitles do not do justice to the movie.

There are just too many semantic jokes that play off names and locations that could not be translated and make sense. That is why in so many reviews there seems to be a sharp contrast in views of whether or not this was a joke-a-minute movie.

The hollywood remake is awful, in fact,it never really made any sense and and the jokes were far and few in between. This one makes much more sense, and the meeting of people and their descendants makes for many more laughs.

The other factor is the acting and casting. This is just the nature of subtitled movies - one very rarely gets the fantastic acting and language ability of actors when reading the watcher is reading a yellow line, especially in comedy. Those who listen to the movie in its original french thikn the acting was fantastic, the voice casting (something i think is terribly important in acting [say, could Ashton Kutcher play Maximus from Gladiator, no, a high pitched voice could not do it]) is brilliant, but reading a crummy translation (and it was crummy) wont do the film justice.

8/10 for francophiles 6/10 for subtitle readers

Les Visiteurs is a brilliant film. It makes me want to learn French so that I could enjoy the movie even more! Although the jokes are coarse, they are used correctly, WITHOUT fake laugh tracks in the background. The actors portray the characters so well I could almost believe it! Well, almost believe it. In any case, this film will bring on the giggles and laughter. It is not easily forgotten.

The French have a wonderful sense of detail. I've spent 10 months there, and this sixth sense seeps through most things - including films. Their comedies are almost always very good, and if they could just get rid of the need for banana-skin-humor (in this case a bowl of soup on someone's head), they would be hilarious.

This film is the funniest of the lot. The characters are extremely funny, and the clash between the medieval knight and his sidekick and the modern world is just as grotesque as I imagine it would be in real life.

The part where they have dinner together is the best: "Jour...nuit...jour...nuit..." You can't quit laughing.