Cheap The Visitors (DVD) (Christian Clavier, Jean Reno, Valérie Lemercier) (Jean-Marie Poiré) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Visitors

A medieval knight (Jean Reno, of "The Professional" and "Godzilla" fame) and his servant (Christian Clavier, a famous French comic actor, unknown abroad) got magically transported forward in time to the XXth century, where he meets his descendants - and tries to adjust to our modern world, from the mysteries of running water and flushing toilets, to those of modern women and the free pursuit of life and happiness for all. The pace never slacks, the movie offers a series of sight gags, as well as a number of more tongue-in-cheek and even (gasp) intellectual jokes and double-entendres -along w/ some "profound" reflexions slickly intertwined w/in the storyline. The movie can be approached at several levels, from the basic visceral to the high-fallutin', and has appeal to different audiences - and viewers' moods. The language is precious (difference between old French and modern French) but there's enough situational and sight humour in there that even non-French speakers should find the movie enjoyable.

The U.S. remake, albeit with the same main actors, was not quite on a par, as seems to be too often the case. I felt it favored the slapstick, and neglected the more subtle undertones that the original managed to carry as well.

If I have to pick a nit, it would be that that the DVD doesn't offer more Special features - but the movie is well-worth the purchase (or rental :-) anyway. Pick a bottle of wine and some good cheese, and make an evening of it!

Who Cares About Subtitles?
My husband kept bothering me to watch this movie, which I did not want to do because I HATE subtitled movies! I relented, and am glad I did. This movie is verrrry funny! A medieval French Nobleman is transported to the future with his servant. As stupid as this premise sounds, we really got caught up in the characters and how they react. We liked hearing it in French while reading the English subtitles. It makes it more believable. Jean Reno, who is also in "Godzilla" with Matthew Broderick, is a very good actor and we liked watching him. Actually, all the characters were cast perfectly. This movie is worth buying.

French Version Much Better
The original movie "Les Visiteurs" is so good, its a pity they had to spoil with the Americanized version - "Just Visiting" - which is at best an insult on the intelligence of the American viewing public.

Although the original movie is in French with English subtitles, they have done a tremendous job with the subtitles - translating a kind of "medieval" French into a comparable type of old English (modern swearwords included). In fact, the job is done so well that we had a lot of laughs just by comparing the film's verbal antics to the translation. Even though I do not speak French myself, it is quite clear that a lot of effort had gone into this. Sometimes the conversations are fast and furious, so it's worthwhile to see the movie a second time. Even on the second pass, there was a lot to laugh at.

The original was meant to be slapstick and the story is a total farce, but I thought it was well done, and very well executed. Even though this whole thing is intended as a joke, the reactions of the medieval guys are quite believable. Both versions star Jean Reno and Christian Clavier, but unfortunately that is not enough to save "Just Visiting", which I can at best award two stars. In contrast, the original effort is a blast and worth at least 4 stars.

If you can, try to obtain the French version. It's worth the trouble!