Comments on: Will Smith to adapt French Blockbuster “Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis” (Welcome to the Sticks)

By: Sly

Sly — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:30:52 +0000

I agree with Claude and Claire wholeheartedly. Unless perhaps (what a fantasy!) Hollywood can somehow imagine there are NO BORDERS between the US and Canada, and have a Texas-type wind up in arctic Canada. From Texas to Maine, for example, just wouldn’t cut it as far as giving it a “two different worlds” flavor to the movie…

I hope (for him, actually) Will Smith will not make the BIG mistake and try to copy/paste this uncopiable and unpasatble French chef d’oeuvre. Just try ADAPTING it, Bro’, don’t be “biting” it…

By: Claire T

Claire T — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 16:51:01 +0000

When will the American learn to stop poaching perfectly good French movies and remaking them? (I suppose I should be grateful they didn’t remake Amelie!) Les visiteurs, un indien dans la ville, le pere noel est une ordure: all wonderful feel good French movies that translated into mechanically dreadful Hollywood produce that were far from succesful in the US. Just learn to put subtitles on films for god’s sake!

By: Claude

Claude — Wed, 21 May 2008 08:19:06 +0000

(Type your comment here. Make sure you’ve read the commenting rules before doing so)

I’ve seen the original french movie, and here are my thoughts:

-a) regardless of the amazing box office numbers, this movie is a small, charming, local movie, with a simplistic storyline and characters who are VERY one-dimensional. It is hard to fathom why exactly this feel-good little thing has had such a huge impact, but it has more to do with the current depressed economy and equally depressed state of mind of France than anything else: it is a case of a movie full of good intentions and nice people striking a chord at the right moment.

b) bearing a) in mind, I cannot imagine an american version being any good; a lot of the humor in the movie is based on the confrontation between 2 cultures (north and south of France) and also a lot on language differences and mentalities between the two communities. I think that if you tried to translate that in the US with, for instance, a northern city guy being stuck in the south, it would have to struggle with the burden of political correctness so widespread in Hollywood movies.

Quite frankly, I don’t see this working at all… especially with Will Smith involved.

By: Rodney

Rodney — Tue, 20 May 2008 23:18:14 +0000

@SF Silver

I said “digging to the bottom of someone else’s barrel” as to imply our barrel has been dug and now we are headed into someone else’s barrels with the intention of getting to its bottom.

By: anderton

anderton — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:52:36 +0000

Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis is a good movie but its phenomenal success is just incredible. Now the big question right now in France is : is it gonna be bigger than Titanic?

By: Krazie835

Krazie835 — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:34:27 +0000

Films that Smith is apart of usually end up watered down from the original product. I liked I, Robot, and I am Legend, but they felt like a watered down product.

By: sfsilver

sfsilver — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:30:32 +0000

Not sure how remaking a bona fide box office success is scraping the bottom of anyone’s barrel – more like skimming the cream off the top…

I hope it can avoid an urban setting, that just sounds boring to me. Maybe a nice thick Maine accent, or a Louisianan/Creole patois.

By: Dragonslayer

Dragonslayer — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:00:38 +0000

Go, Will!