Welcome to the Sticks (2008)

A Parisian husband who is transfered to a town in north of France carrying a negative image about its people, but then he realizes the truth of his misperceptions. The plot is kinda simple yet fun depicting stereotyping and friendship in a sweet and lovable way. I really felt for the climax as I am one who is really attached to people and places. What helped more to enjoy WELCOME TO THE STICKS (BIENVENUE CHEZ LES CH'TIS) is the incredible work for the subtitles which captured the essence of scenes where different dialects have a role in the plot for non-French speaking.

Bienvenue chez les Ch'Tis is a French comedy film about a dishonest post office manager who is sent to the "dreaded" north of France for a job transfer. The movie focuses on stereotypes as Philippe Abrams, the main character, slowly warms up to the region and its people. While this movie does have some chuckle worthy one-liners, there is not much else to make this movie likable. The characters are meant to be charming, but they tend to fall flat due to poor acting and a bland plot. Most of the jokes are based off the main characters being drunk, while the rest of the movie is predictable and cliché- at almost every scene, what is coming next is as clear as day. The actors didn't have good dynamics with each other, and it seemed like the romantic leads were just paired together with no thought to on-screen chemistry. Overall, this movie is not worth watching despite its occasional amusing moment.

At times the plot is not very credible as the story goes in the Internet era when finding information about another part of a country and dialects spoken there should not be a nuclear science... Although I have experienced French arrogance and poor knowledge of geography, I have never heard or noticed that North-Eastern part has been considered somewhat "low" (vis-a-vis North-West). Nord-Pas de Calais is almost Belgium and there are lots of beautiful cities and townships; OK, I agree, that climate leaves a lot to be desired :)There are 2 funny groups of scenes: a) on the postal route and b) welcoming the wife, when the 2 main male actors are able to show their skills and brilliance... In short, Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis is OK watching, but a bit overrated; Intouchables is much better. At least for a non-Frenchman like me.

I remember comedy hour on French radio. I remember imitations of the Bretons, of the Basques, of the Alsatians, of the French speaking Swiss and of Belgians. They are peripheral and therefore funny and not to be taken quite seriously. Now, imagine a Spanish film depicting Galicians (or, worse, Catalans!) as peripheral, kind but stupid yokels. The outcry it would generate! This belittling of regions far from the (so called) cultural centre seems to me a specific French cultural trait. And they want to be the leading nation of Europe. I am not surprised that this movie was a smash hit, everyone likes to see a story set in a pretty little town, where there are no big worries and everybody is kind and helpful (who wouldn't like to live in Bergues after the viewing?) but it's basically presenting a real place as an idyll and hunting for cheap effects. It brings nothing new or interesting to the viewers but some moments of distraction at the expense of a specific region.