Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (2008)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Dany Boon

Writers:

Dany Boon (writer)
Alexandre Charlot (writer)

Release Date:

27 February 2008 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Although living a comfortable life in Salon-de-Provence, a charming town in the South of France, Julie has been feeling depressed for a while...

Plot Keywords:

Bergues | Post | Post Office | Lille | Spoof

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Kad Merad	...	Philippe Abrams
Dany Boon	...	Antoine Bailleul
Zoé Félix	...	Julie Abrams
Lorenzo Ausilia-Foret	...	Raphaël Abrams
Anne Marivin	...	Annabelle Deconninck
Philippe Duquesne	...	Fabrice Canoli
Guy Lecluyse	...	Yann Vandernoout
Line Renaud	...	La maman d'Antoine
Michel Galabru	...	Le grand oncle de Julie
Stéphane Freiss	...	Jean Sabrier
Patrick Bosso	...	Le gendarme A7
Jérôme Commandeur	...	L'inspecteur Lebic
Alexandre Carrière	...	Tony - l'amoureux d'Isabelle
Fred Personne	...	M. Vasseur
Frank Andrieux	...	M. Leborgne (as Franck Andrieux)

Also Known As:

Welcome to the Land of Shtis (Europe: English title) (festival title)
Welcome to the Sticks (International: English title)

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | France:U | Ireland:12A | Netherlands:6 | Singapore:PG | Portugal:M/6 | Germany:o.Al. | UK:12A | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Autoroute A7, France

Company:

Pathé Renn Productions

Trivia:

With 20.2 million viewers, it is the most successful French film in France. Former distinction holder was La grande vadrouille (1966).

Movie Connections:

Remade as Welcome to the Sticks (2010)

Soundtrack:

I just call (to say I love you)

Pleasant entertainment, not much more

Finally we went to see this movie on the (not-so) big screen of a local art-house cinema. I definitely enjoyed it, but it's nothing truly special. The humour ranged from predictable to quite funny, avoiding boredom. Some slightly deeper themes were touched on lightly. The actors were decent, especially the two male leads, but largely restricted to typecast roles. While at first the jokes about the prejudices and clichés within France are funny enough, I would have preferred a slightly more subtle treatment. On the positive side, the movie has no delusions of grandeur, it tells its simple story in a nice straight forward way. I guess some of its enormous success in France stems from the fact that for once we don't have Parisians as main characters but everyday people from 'France profonde'.

All in all, more a pleasant rosé, nice to drink but not really lasting, than a premier cru.