In 1993, "The Visitors", one of the biggest commercial successes in French cinema's history, boosted the then-declining power of popular comedy for the decades to come. Indeed, each recent French comedy owes a little to Jean-Marie Poiré's titular visitors from the Medieval Ages, the knight Godefroy le Hardi (the brave) and his obedient vassal, Jacquouille la Fripouille (the 'Laurel' of this 'Hardi', so to speak) who are accidentally transported to the 90's, discovering there horseless carriages, stinky air, tasteless food and such trivialities as toilet bowls, Chanel perfume and
human rights.
The film deserves every Franc it earned as it was funny in every possible meaning of the word, warm, intelligent, and carried by terrific performances from Jean Reno as Godefroy to Christian Clavier as Jacquouille (he would also play his sophisticated descendant, a pedant and precious go-getter named Jacquard) and Valérie Lemercier as both Godefroy's fiancé and his descendant Béatrice. The medieval settings were breathtakingly rendered, the special effects excellent for the time, and the story was a school-case of comedic writing, with the perfect happy (but-not- for-everyone) ending.
The least thing needed was a sequel, so it was done, 5 years later. Although a commercial success, the film was panned by the critics (and also the public) for its mediocre attempt to copy a formula without any real good story to tell. The film didn't fool anyone and was seen for what it was: a noisy, over-the-top excuse to use CGI, you know this syndrome that struck movies from the late 90's and early 2000's. In the first opus, the two medieval protagonists fought a postal car (driven by a Black man, immediately labeled as a Saracen, one of the film's best gags), they felt sick in a car, they drop and broke plates after being startled by a phone ring (causing the furor of their host), washed their faces with toilet water and emptied an entire bottle of 'inevitable' Chanel n°5 in the bathtub. As basic as they seemed, these gags worked.
"The Visitors 2" had no story, no Lemercier, but it had special effects and big budgets, but who can possibly tell that a hysterical Jacquouille, exploding a TV or making a fire hose gushing like a geyser can make people laugh. And by overusing it, they even ruined one of the film's best, running-gags: the jump-transformation sequence, Godefroy turning into ice, and Jacquouille into excrement. That sequel was so awful that when I learned that the first film was remade for an American audience in 2001, my initial reaction was "Can't they live that movie alone?" The original didn't even work in the US, and now, they take the same actors. In fact, not only the film does justice to the original, but the casting of Reno and Clavier is the masterstroke.
The plot is basically the same, except that Lemercier's role is played by Christina Applegate as Princess Rosalind, and her modern alter-ego is Julia Melfete,. Reno and Clavier's names are changed to Thibaut de Malfete and André le Paté (not the cleverest choice but anyway). And I was pleasantly surprised by how convincingly engaged they were in their performance, despite the comical material. I even preferred Reno's hairstyle as he looked almost younger than the original Godefroy. And Clavier didn't sin by overplaying Jacquouille, one of his most recurrent post-"Visitors" criticisms.
There are other minor changes from the first film, in the original, Godefroy accidentally kills his soon-not-to-be-anymore father-in-law, taking him for a bear after being poisoned by a witch, he then looks at his fiancée who just witnessed her father's death and see with innocent eyes: I saw a big beast", there's a rather hilarious punch line to quite a dark scene. In the remake, Thibaut drinks poisoned wine making him hallucinating, he sees everyone he sees as monsters and then kills the most 'hideous beast', Rosalind. It's a rather creepy set-up, served by disturbing CGI effects, but thankfully, it doesn't last very long and as soon as the Wizard takes them to the future, the film takes off. And speaking of the wizard, it took me almost to the last part of the film to realize it was Malcolm MacDowell.
"Just Visiting" revisits the previous film and even improves it by creating a bigger and contrast between the Medieval age and a city like Chicago. There's a dizzying moment where the two heroes can't turn their heard to a direction without being frightened by monster-like vehicles and technology. While in the original movie, apart from the cars, the landscape was rather welcoming, and the film didn't even feature an elevator or big buildings, it was more restrained, which was good. "Just Visiting" is spectacular and it's as good, too. And while it doesn't have Lemercier, Applegate is delightfully sensitive and endearing, Matt Ross was a good as the cunning and hypocrite husband that gets his comeuppance at the end and the Tara Reid (who screams early 2000's whatever happened to her) formed a cute pair with André, showing him that some advantage of modern life don't necessarily consist on food, objects and technological stuff;
Of course, the film is also 'modern' by its guilty use of Political Correctness, so no 'Saracen' to meet them (a lie like "a Moor!" was a wasted opportunity) but the film redeemed itself by bringing some new gags, my favorite being André frenetically banging the car window to get out, as if he was trapped. "Just Visiting", like "The Birdcage" is one of these rare occurrences of a French comedy remade with proper respect to the original material and wise tactical changes. And from the way it's both funny, touching and a little-over-the-top, it's exactly the kind of film, "The Visitors 2" wanted (but failed to be) And a few months after the release of "The Visitors 3", I guess, if it's half as funny as this one, I'll be satisfied.
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