JUST VISITING (**)
Count Thibault (Jean Reno of LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL), is a French knight and sovereign, scheduled to marry an English royal, princess Rosalind (Christina Applegate of the TV Series MARRIED WITH CHILDREN). When a jealous suitor wrecks havoc on the eve of the Thibault's wedding through a witch's potion, he seeks the assistance of a local wizard (Malcolm McDowell of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) to send them back into time to correct the grievance. But the wizard miscalculates, and sends Thibault and his servant Andre (Christian Clavier) into 21st century Chicago, where they end up with an apparent reincarnation of the princess in Julia Malfete. JUST VISITING mainly takes a look at this French duo as they take in the sights of a future the don't belong in, until the wizard can get them back home.
There's nothing wrong with this picture. It's silly fun. Nobody should try and dissect it and look for flaws in its plot (like how can they go to future but end up on the other side of the Atlantic). Time-travel movies have been around for a long time, and it's amusing how people of the present (BACK TO THE FUTURE) or people from the past (KATE AND LEOPOLD) would adjust in "fish-out-of-water" scenarios. The problem with JUST VISITING is that after a really wonderful and side-splitting first-half, it never recovers. It runs out of steam after its best scene. It doesn't get bad or corny, but it never takes off again.
The movie has good production value, and has a few impressive special effects (some of them quite unusual). But the film's merits lie in scenes where Thibault and Andre try to adjust to Chicago's seemingly advanced wonders. They confuse a red jeep for a red dragon, they get nauseous in a car traveling at fast speed of... 20mph. They confuse a toilet for a fountain, and in the movie's best sequence (one that I found it hard to breathe in), make a mess out of Julia's kitchen due to Andre's inquisitive actions. Looking back at these moments always makes me smile.
The second-half is uneventful, consisting of proceedings that will probably make a lot of people feel that they're wasting their time. There's Andre falling in love with Angelique (Tara Reid of AMERICAN PIE), another servant who lives next door. She introduces him to shopping, driving, fashion, and the night life, so predictably, he doesn't want to go back to his time. He finds the willingness to stop being a servant (more of a slave really) and yells to Thibault, "I want to stay here, where I can eat doughnuts and wear exciting men's fashions at rock-bottom prices." There's also the matter of Thibault discovering that Julia is his descendant, and teaching her how to be valiant in dealing with her slimy fiancé Hunter (Matt Ross), who cheats on her with his secretary-temptress Amber (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras of THE WEDDING PLANNER). All of these are your standard subplots, and are mildly interesting at best.
The movie is based on its predecessor THE VISITORS, which was set entirely in France. It's the highest grossing comedy in the French box-office, and I guess based on its success, its makers wanted to put an American spin on it. Both of these films were directed by Jean-Marie Poire and both were written by he and Christian Clavier. John Hughes, a noted Chicago director (Planes, Trains, and Automobiles) and writer (Some Kind of Wonderful), also assisted in the writing, as evidenced by its Chicago setting. I haven't seen The Visitors yet, but its rated higher on IMDB.com (6.4 to Just Visiting's 5.7). So I'm inclined to believe that Poire's previous work is better.
Jean Reno is France's Robert De Niro (and one of my very favorite actors), but in America (and here as well) he is not known for his work in comedy, even though he also starred in THE VISITORS. I really didn't know what to think of him here. I am so used to his tough guy image (one of the best - RONIN, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, and LEON), that I felt so odd seeing him make a spectacle of himself. But it's nice seeing his lighter side (even Robert De Niro has fun with comedies), and gets some of the best laughs. Christian Clavier is known as one of France's better comedic actors, and he certainly delivers with his antics as Andre. He also gets a lot of sympathy from the audience, since he plays the slave, but his curiosity is what really makes us laugh, since he always pays for it. Christina Applegate doesn't deliver much, other than a pretty face, and a sitcom skill she had when she was still on TV. But with this role, who could give more? Who would need to? It was also fun to see Malcolm McDowell in a movie again, especially when he dresses in his ultramodern wizard garb once he gets to Chicago. He looks like funky ZZ Top member.
All in all, if there's nothing else to see over the weekend, it's not bad to see JUST VISITING. If I had only known it's comedy was only entertaining during the first half, I would have left early. The movie is very funny when it deals with mismatched times, but its laughter ends too soon. And besides, it's out on video already, so why not rent it and see it at home?
Posted by FLIPCRITIC at July 3, 2002 12:00 AM