Sonne, Sex und Schneegestöber

If aliens would come to earth and want to understand our frontiers and nationalities, i would recommend our french comedies to learn from them. So American comedies are totally different from ours, and while European ones would be similar, my fellows have however clear and distinct attributes: if you look for fashioned and modern french, you will find only Parisians! Outside Paris, french live as in Middle- ages! French are wild beats as we just like to eat, drink and have sex... We are not very polite or clean and we are lucky to live in an however beautiful country with fantastic landscapes! So with that on mind, you can enjoy this funny movie! I never went to winter vacations but this movie feels like it! As it happens on the late 70s, you can even discover France at its best as everything was better than now: the cars, the fashion, the attitudes. It's maybe the first time i watched it entirely because as a child, we weren't allowed TV except on Tuesdays and Saturdays. So this movie belongs to the few french cult movies as we watch it over and over. All generations can share some lines or situations as they are so true that they will make us laugh forever!

Follow-up to smash hit "Les Bronzés" with virtually the same cast and director. This time of course the setting is not a tropic Club Med place but a winter-sports resort in the French Alps.

Except for a rather annoying 'seventies' disco-style soundtrack, movie hasn't dated at all. Among the many hilarious highlights there is the local "wine" tasting scene and the encounter in a remote cabin with some horny Italians.

Almost everyone involved went on to become a major star in French cinema, as Christian Clavier ("Les Visiteurs" and recently Napoleon Bonaparte in a prestigious TV-series) and Gerard Jugnot (lead in the 2005 Oscarnominated "Les Choristes"). But also director Patrice Leconte became one of France's most respected directors (Le mari de la Coiffeusse,Ridicule,"Les Grands Ducs", etc...).

If you like this try also the crazy "Le Péré Noel est une Ordure", made a few years later and again with virtually the same cast.

It is an excellent movie!! A French monument! For English speakers, you can find the DVD with English subs on amazon.co.uk. Most of the actors are part of the French comedy group called "Le Splendid", and they're all simply awesome. This movie is a sequel of "Les Bronzes" which in my opinion is not worth watching. It's good but it's far below the laughing fest that is "Les Bronzes font du ski". The dialogues are perfect and the situations are just hilarious. A group of friends who met in a Club Med for single people reunite to go ski together. When they decide to do a helicopter drop at the top of a ski resort things start to go wrong...but it gets real funny for us! I'm French but I hope foreigners will get a chance to watch it since it was a huge success in France along with "Le Pere Noel est une Ordure" (also available on amazon uk)made by the same "Splendid" group.

If you like it, you're half-way to become a french "classics" amateur! It's not quite understandable for someone who doesn't know a bit about french comedies, yet it can allow you to grab a glimpse of what makes froggies laugh. It's full of references for one who knows a little about France, but it's definitely not a 'clever' movie. Lean back in your seat, imagine you're an average person who just wants to relax and you're in!

This one is even better than the first "Les Bronzés". The director has traded the Club Med for the French Alps. But the cast, luckily, is the same. There is some hilarious scenes, especially in the second half. One example: the food and drinks at the peasants' house in the mountain. Far from an intellectual movie, it's one that jokes about some French ways of doing thing or seeing life. Not one of Leconte's best, but still good. One thing's for sure though, the soundtrack is passé! Great way to spend a Sunday night at home.

Seen at home, in Toronto, on February 26th, 2006.

76/100 (**½)