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IMDbPro

Welcome to the Sticks

Original title: Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis
  • 20082008
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 46m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
43K
YOUR RATING
Dany Boon and Kad Merad in Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
Watch Welcome to the Sticks - US Trailer
Play trailer2:05
1 Video
57 Photos
ComedyRomance
A French public servant from Provence is banished to the far North. Strongly prejudiced against this cold and inhospitable place, he leaves his family behind to relocate temporarily there, w... Read allA French public servant from Provence is banished to the far North. Strongly prejudiced against this cold and inhospitable place, he leaves his family behind to relocate temporarily there, with the firm intent to quickly come back.A French public servant from Provence is banished to the far North. Strongly prejudiced against this cold and inhospitable place, he leaves his family behind to relocate temporarily there, with the firm intent to quickly come back.
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
43K
YOUR RATING
    • Dany Boon
    • Dany Boon
    • Alexandre Charlot(dialogue)
    • Franck Magnier(dialogue)
  • Stars
    • Kad Merad
    • Dany Boon
    • Zoé Félix
    • Dany Boon
    • Dany Boon
    • Alexandre Charlot(dialogue)
    • Franck Magnier(dialogue)
  • Stars
    • Kad Merad
    • Dany Boon
    • Zoé Félix
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 61User reviews
    • 84Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    Welcome to the Sticks - US Trailer
    Trailer 2:05
    Watch Welcome to the Sticks - US Trailer

    Photos57

    Dany Boon and Kad Merad in Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
    Dany Boon and Kad Merad in Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
    Dany Boon and Kad Merad in Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
    Dany Boon and Kad Merad in Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
    Zoé Félix and Kad Merad in Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
    Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
    Zoé Félix in Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
    Kad Merad in Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
    Philippe Duquesne, Anne Marivin, Kad Merad, and Lorenzo Ausilia-Foret in Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
    Patrick Bosso in Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
    Michel Galabru in Welcome to the Sticks (2008)
    Anne Marivin in Welcome to the Sticks (2008)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Kad Merad
    Kad Merad
    • Philippe Abrams
    Dany Boon
    Dany Boon
    • Antoine Bailleul
    Zoé Félix
    Zoé Félix
    • Julie Abrams
    Lorenzo Ausilia-Foret
    • Raphaël Abrams
    Anne Marivin
    Anne Marivin
    • Annabelle Deconninck
    Philippe Duquesne
    Philippe Duquesne
    • Fabrice Canoli
    Guy Lecluyse
    • Yann Vandernoout
    Line Renaud
    Line Renaud
    • La maman d'Antoine
    Michel Galabru
    Michel Galabru
    • Le grand oncle de Julie
    Stéphane Freiss
    Stéphane Freiss
    • Jean Sabrier
    Patrick Bosso
    • Le gendarme A7
    Jérôme Commandeur
    • L'inspecteur Lebic
    Alexandre Carrière
    Alexandre Carrière
    • Tony - l'amoureux d'Isabelle
    Fred Personne
    • M. Vasseur
    Franck Andrieux
    • M. Leborgne
    Jean-Christophe Herbeth
    • M. Mahieux
    Jean-François Picotin
    • M. Tizaute
    Jenny Clève
    Jenny Clève
    • La mamie 'Quinquin'
      • Dany Boon
      • Dany Boon
      • Alexandre Charlot(dialogue)
      • Franck Magnier(dialogue)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Instead of using well known dialects for the German dubbed version, the dubbing studio created a completely new fictional dialect with as much similarity to the original French ch'ti dialect as possible.
    • Goofs
      When Philippe Abrams knocks down Antoine Bailleul with his car, one of the windshield wipers rights itself then is back down on the next shot.
    • Crazy credits
      after the movie, while the closing credits scroll over the screen, some outtakes are shown.
    • Connections
      Featured in La noche de...: La noche de... 8 apellidos vascos (2014)
    • Soundtracks
      Un Clair de Lune à Maubeuge
      Music by Pierre Perrin and Claude Blondy

      Lyrics by Pierre Perrin

      Performed by the Harmonie Municipale de Bergues

    User reviews61

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    7/10
    A sincere feel-good movie ... that gets too conventional and emotional at the end ...
    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.
    helpful•2
    0
    • ElMaruecan82
    • Mar 7, 2014

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 27, 2008 (France)
      • France
    • Official sites
      • Official site
      • Official site (Russia)
      • French
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Bergues, Nord, France
    • Production companies
      • Pathé Renn Productions
      • Hirsch
      • Les Productions du Chicon
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 46 minutes
      • Color
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital

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