Just Visiting (2001)
Directed by Jean-Marie Poiré

Film Review

Just Visiting is the inevitable (and surprising overdue) American remake of Les Visiteurs (1993), one of the most popular film comedies to have been made in France.  As far as big budget American remakes go, this isn't a bad one - it keeps the best bits of the original film and adds a few extra comic touches to the mix (the best example being the hilarious closing credits sequence, ironically the best part of the film).  Jean Reno and Christian Clavier reprise their respective roles as the time travelling knight and his shambling vassal, although both have been noticeably cleaned up and deloused since their first outing - obviously an American audience is more sensitive about personal hygiene issues than a French one.

Perhaps the most noticeable departure from the original film is the lost of Clavier's 20th Century double.  This was presumably intended to simplify the narrative, again to make the film more palatable to an American audience.  Such 'dumbing down' may widen the film's appeal, but it does diminish its charm and sophistication.  If Les Visiteurs was a juicy fillet steak, Just Visiting is probably a two dollar hamburger - not exactly gourmet food.

Just Visiting would almost certainly have been watered down even further (its Gallic humour reduced to homeopathic proportions) had it not been scripted and directed by Jean-Marie Poiré, the director of the original film (who inexplicably adopted the pseudonym Gaubert for this film's credit).  Although a lot of the comic dialogue loses some of its punch in translation, the visual gags are just as funny and still provide plenty of laughs.  Whilst not as fresh and funny as the original Visiteurs film, Just Visiting still manages to be a pretty enjoyable culture clash romp, if you can stomach the unwelcome intrusion of political correctness and some totally unnecessary and overblown CGI special effects.

Film Synopsis

During the One Hundred Years War, the French Duke Thibault de Malfète travels to England to marry his beloved Princess Rosalind.  Unfortunately, he has a rival who, during a banquet to celebrate the engagement, slips a hallucinogenic potion into his drink.  In his confusion, Thibault kills his future bride.  To undo this tragedy, the Duke takes another potion, this time from a trusted sorcerer, which will transport him and his servant, André le Pâté, back in time a few hours.  Like all good plans, this one goes spectacularly wrong and the two time travellers find themselves in 20th Century Chicago.  Here they meet Julia, a descendant of Thibault who has inherited the Malfète name and fortune.  She mistakes Thibault for her cousin, who recently disappeared at sea, and takes him and his servant home with her.  Her boyfriend, Hunter, is far from pleased with this development.  Not only does he now have to share a house with what looks like a pair of raving madmen, but his scheme to rob Julia of her fortune could be jeopardised...