Los bronceados hacen ski

This is the first French film I ever saw since moving to France from the UK a year ago, and what can I say, nothing else compares to it! I can certainly see why it has become such a classic over here. I've seen it several times now and it still has me in fits of laughter ever time I watch it. I strongly advise everyone to watch the original version and not to bother with the English soundtrack, as the translation is truly atrocious and a lot of the jokes are missed out.

Set in Val d'Isère in the 70s, a group of friends head for the mountains for a skiing trip, and everything that could possibly go wrong on a skiing holiday DOES go wrong... add to that the unique French sense of humour and loads of witty remarks from the characters throughout, and you have a truly superb film. Highly recommended!

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.

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!

What struck me as being strange in this movie is that from the Beginning to the End it feels like the opening of a comedy film, in the sense that the rapid juxtapositions accompanied by the.jumpy Pop songs were rather fitting of a quick, typical film introduction.

But here the "introduction" never ends, only when the credits start rolling.

This is to say what? This is to say that the film is, basically, one prolonged sketch. Or, if you will, an accumulation of sketches.

And it is a solid, relatively funny, creative, and slightly charming sketch.

But it is not substantially more.

Nevertheless, I did quite enjoy the alpine, snowy setting, the cast, and the overtly French touch of it.

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)