ElMaruecan82
With 17 million viewers, the 1966 comedic hit "La Grande Vadrouille" reigned on the French box-office for more than four decades. But the king was finally dethroned by a sleeper hit with a catchy title "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis", starring Dany Boon and Kad Merad.Both actors aren't on the same league than the iconic Louis de Funès and Bourvil duo. Yet for some reason, the film met with immediate success thanks to … call it as you want, Internet, buzz, word-to-mouth … something that definitely touched the hearts of 20 million viewers, one third of French population, which makes me realize that "La Grande Vadrouille" proportionally did better.But let's not pollute this review with numeracy, like I said for "Intouchables", the film benefited from the virtual circle of success, becoming a phenomenon, something people came at less to see it, than to see what's so great about it. And as an aspiring film-maker, I've got to hand it to Dany Boon for having have made a film with such an effect. Where "Welcome to the Ch'tis" worked, many others have failed, especially those that tried to follow some guidelines for a successful comedy, I guess what the "Ch'tis" have is called sincerity and good intentions, a sort of Capraesque 'feel-good' quality, praising the unique charm of small little towns and their caring and loving inhabitants.It's sincere because the film is set in the North, which is to France what the Midwest is to USA. To avoid repetition, I invite you to check my review of "Les Tuche" to get my idea about the region. Anyway, "Ch'tis" (referring to the inhabitants) had a story to tell, the story of a cocky and arrogant manager sleeping on the laurels of his success under Mediterranean sun until he's 'promoted' to the North, a place full of hard-drinking rednecks with incomprehensible accents, and a sky depressingly gray. The film does exaggerate the reputation of the North and make it sound like a sort of doomed place, I guess this is to be taken in a humorous light, a running gag that should have culminated with Michel Galabru's cameo, describing with his Southern accent, North as if it was a haunted mansion.But as the singer said (quote from the 'Tuche' review) : "People from the North have in their eyes the blue lacking in their setting and in their heart the sun that is not shining". And that's the shining Philippe (Kad Merad) will discover. It's a coming-to-realization that thankfully happens very quickly, revealing that the man was prejudiced but not a bigot, he was probably troubled by his marital problems and sleeping in the house of his employee, a gentle postman named Antoine (Dany Boon) didn't help, nor facing the menacing stare of his mother reminding me of Agnes Skinner, and played by one of the most defining figures of the North: Line Renaud.The breakfast is rather disastrous full of Maroualle (a particularly smelly local cheese) cheap coffee, and a series of dialogs whose accents are, so to speak, accentuated to have the same effects on the laughs. My wife, coming from the North, laughed more than me. There had to be a film about the Ch'tis, a sort of adventure in a new world with a heart inside. The ice is finally broken when Pierre decides to follow Antoine during his workday, to prevent him from drinking, naturally he ends up as drunk as him, contributing to the film's defining picture, an enchanting moment of male-bonding, friendship and mutual understanding. I can't blame a film for trying to evoke so many positive feelings.But the plot weakens when Philippe tries to hide the truth from his wife (Zoé Felix) and to make it worse, she decides to visit him, and then comes a sequence belonging to another film, where all the local people act according to the very stereotypes that insult them, and the wife buys it (not too long, but still). Since the point is to prove that they're not dumb dim-witted people, would they take part of such a senseless joke if they weren't? The climax occurs when Antoine finally find the nerve to declare his love from the belfry where he works as the bell-ringer (what was so difficult anyway?), and as if Phillipe's bell was rang in the same time, he takes the trademark Post yellow trunk to the South in order to apologize to his wife. This is when the film gets too conventional for such a hit, and I felt like cheated a bit.But I could have forgiven that if it wasn't for one thing, one thing the film lacks: a punch line. There's no comedy without a simple joke, a smile, a laugh at the end, but as if we hadn't enough emotions, it had to feature the cringe-worthy sight of Philippe weeping like a kid. And Antoine's triumph "see, we cry twice, when we come and when we leave", all right, when he told him that on the beach, we could see that coming from a mile, so why not just make an effort to surprise us? A film that ambitious could have at least been kind enough to have a small, a frail, a timid little twist. It's unfortunate when the funniest scene of the film I spoil (let's just say, it features a wheelchair) happens so soon in the beginning.And the polemics raised when the film only grabbed one nomination for Best Screenplay earning the Academy of Césars an accusation of snobbishness, against popular cinema, which is not totally untrue, but still, how many nominations "The Visitors" had, or "Amelie", or "Intouchables" these are far superior film that deserved to be the number one. "Bievenue Chez les Ch'tis" was probably released at the right time, about the right place, and its genuineness touched people. But this is far from being the greatest French comedy ever, simply the highest-grossing.
kereader
I studied Spanish for five years and have a deep, unrelenting bias to all foreign films that are not Spanish. I did not go into this French comedy – translated to Welcome to the Sticks – with very much hope that it was going to be a good film.I could not have been any more incorrect.Welcome to the Sticks is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, foreign or domestic. It's about a guy – Philippe – who tries to con his way into getting a better job in warm, sunny southern France by pretending he's handicapped, gets caught, and is punished by being sent to The North. Everyone knows that The North is full of lazy, uneducated people and freezing weather and just absolute awfulness all around. Philippe is not excited, and his wife, Julie, is furious. She refuses to move with him and instead stays at home with their son. Philippe has to travel back on the weekends to visit his family.But when Philippe arrives in The North, he discovers that it's nothing like the rumors he's heard; everyone is super friendly and everything is beautiful. The only problem is, they speak in a dialect that is almost impossible to understand. Hilarity ensues and the story continues, and Philippe lies to his wife and tells her that everything is terrible in The North, which actually helps to strengthen their marriage.This was an incredibly cute film. The person who wrote the commentary even made the dialect come through in written English words, which was a little frustrating at first but helped English-only speakers to better understand the story. I would highly recommend this movie, and I kind of wonder if there could ever be an English equivalent to it – I think it would be almost impossible to do, which makes this movie especially unique, in my opinion. I give this film nine out of ten stars, and you should definitely choose this as your next Friday night rental.
lemon_magic
I got the DVD of this movie as a birthday gift from some in-laws who watched it on an international plane flight and (for some reason), thought I would enjoy it. I mostly stick with Hollywood movies, so I had no idea what to expect from "Bienvenue a la Chtis", but I gave the DVD a spin over the holidays when things were slow...and I ended up truly enjoying the film.Admittedly there isn't anything especially new about the premise of the film (story tellers have been riffing on the idea for decades in things like "Northern Exposure", "Doc Hollywood", and even the Pixar movie "Cars"),but these guys know how to put a film together - how to structure a story arc, how to write funny, amusing dialog (even in subtitles, the word play and the jokes about dialects were funny), and in general how keep things moving while still including plenty of telling details and charming character bits.The cast is also very strong; there's a nice group chemistry evident in most scenes, and there isn't a flat tire in the bunch.I still haven't been converted into a French cinephile, but I certainly liked this particular French film and I'm very glad I got a chance to see it.
