I visitatori alla conquista dell'America

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).

This movie doesn't get enough credit. I found it in a DVD bargain bin after never even hearing about it on cinema, which is a great pity. Jean Reno is in a different role for a change, and he excels - his comic timing is perfect, and together with Applegate and the dumb slave, you are left wishing you could see more of them. You also develop a real hate for Applegate's boyfriend. I laughed solidly the entire way through at the way the characters battled to fit in with modern living standards. Everything from the concept to the jokes, even the graphics, is done really well, and I would highly recommend this to fans of sci-fi comedies or even romantics. 8/10

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.

Whenever a foreign film is good enough for the american film industry to want to copy it they usually botch the job by trying to americanize it. If you have ever seen the original, "Les Visiteurs" then you probably know what I am talking about. This american version would have done well to stick to the original story. It's unfortunate that the the writer (also the original's director) tried to "fix" something that wasn't broke.

All the warning signs were there. Jean Reno already made a perfectly good version of this film in 1993. Unfortunately, Americans do not like subtitles or films set outside their own country, so Just Visiting was conceived, chiefly with the aim of milking a few more dollars from the original idea.

Unfortunately, the humour is not as good, the acting of the US supporting cast is not as good, and the plot makes far less sense than the original. Why would he be transported to Chicago? What are the odds his descendant lives in Chicago? The original was much more plausible - it was set in the same geographical area, so meeting one's descendants is not so ridiculous, and it created plenty of humour based on Sir Godefroy's shock to learn that his castle was now owned by the descendant of his moronic lackey, whereas his descendant lived in a modest 3 bedroom house.

For goodness sake, save your ticket money and get the original French version "Les Visiteurs" on video. It is a far better film.