French Immersion

This is the best Canadian comedy movie in the history of Canadian cinema. Congratulations TVA.

Putting together Canada's most distinct societies, Quebec and Newfoundland & Labrador, with a cast including ardent Quebecois rock composer and singer Robert Charlebois and "The Republic of Newfoundland"'s "22 Minutes" Gavin Crawford is sheer genius.

And it's all set in a typically Canadian rural community that could just as well be full of Manitobans, Ontarians, or any other provincials living in Canada. This movie is a great satirical look at the way so many Canadians see Canada and the rest of the "outside" world, i.e. everywhere beyond the town boundaries.

There are tonnes of inside jokes requiring a pan-Canadian knowledge of Canada, its bilingual and multicultural essence. It's a very good way of learning about Canada and Canadians.

If you don't get this movie don't worry. It just means you're not really Canadian.

It's an entertaining movie. No more no less. It doesn't take itself too seriously so neither should you. And if that's what you go in with, you'll be pleasantly surprised. The situations are funny and imaginative, some work and some don't. The characters all have their stories and by the end you care a little for all of them. Literally there isn't more to it. If you want a light hearted movie that centers on Canada and the situation of Quebec vs rest of Canada, then this is cute movie. There is nothing to take offence to and let's definitely not dissect this movie for accuracy, it's a comedy.

Contrary to the other user views French Immersion is definitely NOT the best or worst. Some of my nominees for best would be Good Cop Bon Cop and Starbuck.

What French Immersion does well is introduce and maintain a level of quaint quirkiness throughout the movie. Some of the jokes or least cracks involving the dislike between the English speaking population and the French is tongue in cheek but funny. But other things were handled rather amateurishly, so there was a lot of room for improvement, just as there was scope for development.

The idea of having a group of non french speakers go to a town in Quebec to learn French was good but there was hardly any french spoken when the group was left to its own devices. Most of the English group had their own agendas which were not properly developed. Even the plot about the gay politician learning french so he could use it to strengthen his candidacy for national leadership was stale and didn't really amount to much. The only interesting thing was the burgeoning romance between Julie and Colin.

All this amounts to a silly, somewhat watchable fare. As long as you accept that it's neither the best nor the worst Canadian film you'll be fine.