Review of Welcome to the Sticks (2008) by Laurence C — 29 Jul 2008

Alright, so it made about twenty million bucks in France alone, so it MUST be some good, right?

Yeah. It's good. And it's funny. Boon sure knows how to stage delightfully likeable (and unlikeable) characters in an offbeat environment. The laughs come quick, and most of the time, they're subtle and effective thanks to the cast's enormous comic timing.

But I, bitter cinephile, was most definitely annoyed by the many, many narrative shortcuts employed throughout. I understand this is very much a light comedy that cannot possibly last more than two hours, but there a pacing issues (some about being too quick, or being somewhat sluggish) that could easily have been avoided if it swayed a little farther from the conventions of the genre. For such a phenomenal success, I eexpected something a bit more revolutionary, not the perfect formula served perfectly.

But, *sigh*, you should see it. It's highly enjoyable, despite its conventional screenplay. The dialogue is engaging, it's pretty to look at (and Merad's perfectly cast mug is a high point for me) and the audience explodes with laughter (sometimes even too much, in my case).