From the same director that "Les Visiteurs, 1993" comes a great comedy which has Christian Clavier and Gérard Depardieu as the main characters. They both perform wonderfully well. This is an excellent movie, very very funny. I personally adore french humor. The characters are great, the actors are well chosen and do divinely in the film. The plot is genius. It's a bit out of reality, but everything is so smoothly developed that for some breve moments you can almost believe that the whole thing could actually happen for real. If you wanna have a good time, don't doubt it, just go and watch it, I'm pretty sure you won't regret it.
10 Reviews
Close to "The Visitors" time-wise, closer to its dreadful sequel quality-wise...
ElMaruecan8230 April 2016
Two years after the knight Godefroy and his servant Jacquouille turned a quarter of French population into theaters' "visitors", Jean-Marie Poiré and Christian Clavier strike again as respectively director and actor/co-writer of "The Guardian Angels", with Gérard Depardieu instead of Jean Reno as second lead.
Depardieu didn't make many comedies after "The Fugitives", final opus of his trilogy with Francis Veber co-starring Pierre Richard, so everyone was expecting a fantastic duo made of this colossal actor with the then giant of French comedy, and true successor of Louis de Funès, especially with such promising material: a priest and a sleazy nightclub boss haunted by their 'consciences', following the classical comic trope of the inner angel and devil with an interesting variation. Being the good 'bad guy', Depardieu as Carco, is harassed by the voice of his good conscience, himself dressed as a mild-mannered curly-haired golf player, and Clavier as Father Tarain by his evil counterpart, a punk version of himself with a rocker's hairstyle and a conventional priest suit.
So when the trailers spread on screens, with four Clavier and Depardieu for the price of two, everyone expected a hit and the film indeed ended in second position after "The Three Brothers". But we'd be aware of it if box-office stats were the measure of quality. Three years later, Poiré would again make a hit with the "Visitors" sequel but the film wasn't a masterpiece for all that. Speaking of which, "The Guardian Angels", has so much capitalized on the success of "The Visitors", borrowing many elements from the odd couple, big/short guy, buffoon/straight man, abundance of special effects so defining of the mid-90's and the escapist value that it foresaw the disastrously low quality of the sequel, all flash and no substance, to use a hackneyed expression.
Contrarily to Veber's classics, there's no official clown and no official straight man, Clavier starts with surprising restraint as Father Tarain, but as the plot advances, a few "Visitors"' mimics invade his acting, and it's only because his counterpart is a carbon-copy of Jacquouille that Tarain remains acceptably serious by comparison. Depardieu, on the other hand, starts as the usual no-nonsense tough guy typical of his movies with Pierre Richard, but then he gets so wrapped up in the crazy and fast-paced rhythm of the action that he spends the whole time running, driving, shouting and getting excited, and it's so over-the-top that it's painfully unfunny. And the entrance of his guardian angel, which is supposed to be a highlight, is the best illustration of what goes wrong with the film.
First, it comes at a point where the dynamics between Tarain and Carco were working well. So the entrance of the guardian angels had to boost or improve the comedy. Unfortunately, they all rely on the same joke: they appear then their self tries to kick them out but end up making a fool of themselves. It's a one-note humor without any originality to redeem it. When Carco's conscience pops up in the car, Depardieu screams. He stops the car, a car hits him from behind then another, and then it's a series of endless collisions. It's not a gag, it's a stunt. And Poiré seems to love them so much I wonder if the action was supposed to serve the comedy, or the opposite.
But it seems like Poiré was so carried away by "The Visitors" success that he went no-holds barred with his film, and fulfilled insecure French directors' wet dream: making an American film. So we get the Chinese Triads, chases in markets and shootouts as plot ornaments, not to mention shameless product placements and other well-spotted angles on Carco's dancers. Even Carco's wife had to be played by a distractingly beautiful, but relatively unknown actress named Eva Grimaldi, who spends most the time shouting at her husband, and end up forgiving him at the end. Why not picking a French actress (beautiful too) who could make us care for her personality, rather than her (so perfect) body? This is as cheap as visual gags consisting on Tarain looking at Eva Herzigova's boobs, or his counterpart taking a woman's skirt off or hot water spilling over an old woman's legs. This is not even the level of slapstick, this is just mean-spirited childishness and we smile in the best case.
It comes to a point where the only good moments are the quiet ones between Carco and Tarain, when they talk about morals and religion, and especially when Carco pretends to be Catholic. These are a few moments of Veberian touch that cut abruptly to the action. Indeed, the film follows such a fast-paced storyline, even the quiet or dialogs scenes are treated like action sequences, short cuts, fast editing, and the linking between the different part of a same dialogs, reveals a very disjointed editing. Poire mixed up comical timing with fast pace to a point you get seasick. Sometimes, it's even cringe-worthy as you have a boy who makes a sad face because he lost his father and a few seconds later, smiling and having fun with other kids. Even a comedy is to be taken seriously as a story.
But I guess this is the reason why they show you the bloopers at the end, a way to tell you, well this is just a film so there's no need to get over-analytical if it was worth the price of your ticket and pop-corn box. Or maybe it's a way to justify the lousy editing, the actors had so hard time to keep straight faces, that they had to make several shots, more than average, that's actually typical of Poiré and "The Visitors" broke a record on that matter.
Well, this sure ain't in the same level, but at least the bloopers show that actors had a good time playing together, a pity many viewers couldn't say the same.
Depardieu didn't make many comedies after "The Fugitives", final opus of his trilogy with Francis Veber co-starring Pierre Richard, so everyone was expecting a fantastic duo made of this colossal actor with the then giant of French comedy, and true successor of Louis de Funès, especially with such promising material: a priest and a sleazy nightclub boss haunted by their 'consciences', following the classical comic trope of the inner angel and devil with an interesting variation. Being the good 'bad guy', Depardieu as Carco, is harassed by the voice of his good conscience, himself dressed as a mild-mannered curly-haired golf player, and Clavier as Father Tarain by his evil counterpart, a punk version of himself with a rocker's hairstyle and a conventional priest suit.
So when the trailers spread on screens, with four Clavier and Depardieu for the price of two, everyone expected a hit and the film indeed ended in second position after "The Three Brothers". But we'd be aware of it if box-office stats were the measure of quality. Three years later, Poiré would again make a hit with the "Visitors" sequel but the film wasn't a masterpiece for all that. Speaking of which, "The Guardian Angels", has so much capitalized on the success of "The Visitors", borrowing many elements from the odd couple, big/short guy, buffoon/straight man, abundance of special effects so defining of the mid-90's and the escapist value that it foresaw the disastrously low quality of the sequel, all flash and no substance, to use a hackneyed expression.
Contrarily to Veber's classics, there's no official clown and no official straight man, Clavier starts with surprising restraint as Father Tarain, but as the plot advances, a few "Visitors"' mimics invade his acting, and it's only because his counterpart is a carbon-copy of Jacquouille that Tarain remains acceptably serious by comparison. Depardieu, on the other hand, starts as the usual no-nonsense tough guy typical of his movies with Pierre Richard, but then he gets so wrapped up in the crazy and fast-paced rhythm of the action that he spends the whole time running, driving, shouting and getting excited, and it's so over-the-top that it's painfully unfunny. And the entrance of his guardian angel, which is supposed to be a highlight, is the best illustration of what goes wrong with the film.
First, it comes at a point where the dynamics between Tarain and Carco were working well. So the entrance of the guardian angels had to boost or improve the comedy. Unfortunately, they all rely on the same joke: they appear then their self tries to kick them out but end up making a fool of themselves. It's a one-note humor without any originality to redeem it. When Carco's conscience pops up in the car, Depardieu screams. He stops the car, a car hits him from behind then another, and then it's a series of endless collisions. It's not a gag, it's a stunt. And Poiré seems to love them so much I wonder if the action was supposed to serve the comedy, or the opposite.
But it seems like Poiré was so carried away by "The Visitors" success that he went no-holds barred with his film, and fulfilled insecure French directors' wet dream: making an American film. So we get the Chinese Triads, chases in markets and shootouts as plot ornaments, not to mention shameless product placements and other well-spotted angles on Carco's dancers. Even Carco's wife had to be played by a distractingly beautiful, but relatively unknown actress named Eva Grimaldi, who spends most the time shouting at her husband, and end up forgiving him at the end. Why not picking a French actress (beautiful too) who could make us care for her personality, rather than her (so perfect) body? This is as cheap as visual gags consisting on Tarain looking at Eva Herzigova's boobs, or his counterpart taking a woman's skirt off or hot water spilling over an old woman's legs. This is not even the level of slapstick, this is just mean-spirited childishness and we smile in the best case.
It comes to a point where the only good moments are the quiet ones between Carco and Tarain, when they talk about morals and religion, and especially when Carco pretends to be Catholic. These are a few moments of Veberian touch that cut abruptly to the action. Indeed, the film follows such a fast-paced storyline, even the quiet or dialogs scenes are treated like action sequences, short cuts, fast editing, and the linking between the different part of a same dialogs, reveals a very disjointed editing. Poire mixed up comical timing with fast pace to a point you get seasick. Sometimes, it's even cringe-worthy as you have a boy who makes a sad face because he lost his father and a few seconds later, smiling and having fun with other kids. Even a comedy is to be taken seriously as a story.
But I guess this is the reason why they show you the bloopers at the end, a way to tell you, well this is just a film so there's no need to get over-analytical if it was worth the price of your ticket and pop-corn box. Or maybe it's a way to justify the lousy editing, the actors had so hard time to keep straight faces, that they had to make several shots, more than average, that's actually typical of Poiré and "The Visitors" broke a record on that matter.
Well, this sure ain't in the same level, but at least the bloopers show that actors had a good time playing together, a pity many viewers couldn't say the same.
Can't stop laughing
rnapier-16 June 2004
This film cam back into my hands recently as a brand new film in the budget range on a certain on line store. I took the opportunity to view it for the first time in 2 or more years.
The premise of this film (good and bad consciences coming down to earth to chastise their respective owners) via a ridiculous Hong Kong subplot, with Triads by the carload, is only really an excuse (a very good one) to exercise the talents of Christian Clavier and Gerard Depardieu. This film is most definitely one to watch in French only, I checked out the dubbed version and it is without any merit, almost as bad as the dub for Le Diner de Cons but that is another story.
Clavier is at full strength as the irritating Father Tarain ("a-i-n like Pain") and he brings his facial expressions and slightly precious voice to the character. The sequences in the ecumenical archives, in the plane and in the Chinese restaurant just make me cry with laughter. Depardieu is satisfyingly "un-Gérard-like" in this film, he seems content to have a good time and frankly this pays off in spades.
The action sequences are suitably hammy, the girls are suitable stunning (any film that packs in the entire Crazy Horse troupe, Eva Grimaldi, Eva Herzegovina and a dozen other gorgeous girls in various states of undress has obviously got a good grip on things!) and the whole package rolls along nicely. Well worth a viewing on a lazy Sunday afternoon, if only to hear "Bonjour Georges" and "Je vous présente le Père Pain" one more time. Undemanding fun, 8 out of 10.
The premise of this film (good and bad consciences coming down to earth to chastise their respective owners) via a ridiculous Hong Kong subplot, with Triads by the carload, is only really an excuse (a very good one) to exercise the talents of Christian Clavier and Gerard Depardieu. This film is most definitely one to watch in French only, I checked out the dubbed version and it is without any merit, almost as bad as the dub for Le Diner de Cons but that is another story.
Clavier is at full strength as the irritating Father Tarain ("a-i-n like Pain") and he brings his facial expressions and slightly precious voice to the character. The sequences in the ecumenical archives, in the plane and in the Chinese restaurant just make me cry with laughter. Depardieu is satisfyingly "un-Gérard-like" in this film, he seems content to have a good time and frankly this pays off in spades.
The action sequences are suitably hammy, the girls are suitable stunning (any film that packs in the entire Crazy Horse troupe, Eva Grimaldi, Eva Herzegovina and a dozen other gorgeous girls in various states of undress has obviously got a good grip on things!) and the whole package rolls along nicely. Well worth a viewing on a lazy Sunday afternoon, if only to hear "Bonjour Georges" and "Je vous présente le Père Pain" one more time. Undemanding fun, 8 out of 10.
Starts off well then descends into comedy nothingness
Horror-yo29 January 2020
It starts off as an action-packed comedy with overly exaggerated scenes and a typically Jean-Marie Poiré styled humor.
By the time the plot and characters are established, the movie takes a strange turn. It's such a drop it can only be explained by the image of a cliff. As soon as the supernatural entities (the guardian angels) are introduced all Hell breaks loose but it's not even a little bit of fun.
This is bad enough to leave half way through. It just drags on, completely out of puff.
Poiré must've gotten rich after Les Visiteurs and must've wanted to have a bit of fun with the money, but the result is shockingly bad. Imagine this film without movie superstars Depardieu and Clavier.
By the time the plot and characters are established, the movie takes a strange turn. It's such a drop it can only be explained by the image of a cliff. As soon as the supernatural entities (the guardian angels) are introduced all Hell breaks loose but it's not even a little bit of fun.
This is bad enough to leave half way through. It just drags on, completely out of puff.
Poiré must've gotten rich after Les Visiteurs and must've wanted to have a bit of fun with the money, but the result is shockingly bad. Imagine this film without movie superstars Depardieu and Clavier.
Incoherent garbage.
gridoon30 June 2003
Try watching more than 20 minutes of this. Can it really be classified as a comedy? Can it be classified as a movie? It is directed with a degree of sloppiness and amateurishness that is unacceptable for a "normal" motion picture. Plus, the version I saw was horribly dubbed. The only way you can enjoy it perhaps is if you're from another planet, where what we consider "frantic" is considered "funny". What a waste of some good stunts and some expensive special effects! 0 out of 4 stars.
a wild parade of fast scenes, good dialogue and lovely half-dressed dames.
col-klink22 December 2002
Les Anges Gardiens is one of the few french movies that I really like. The speed is the essential characteristic of this nervous and beautifully edited picture, and turns an simple mob plot into a wild parade of fast scenes, good dialogue and lovely half-dressed dames. Unfortunately, nothing is perfect. And in this picture's imperfections are precisely the guarding angels. Not too much for the angels themselves (they are supportable) but those special effects are almost offensive!
It needs better editing
josephmpapp11 February 2017
This is one of those movies that works well and then it doesn't. The editing doesn't do the film justice even though there are a lot of good scenes that are edited well in the film. The CGI for the time is pretty good. It's just not a very good film unless you take it in parts. The actors are fine. The women are beautiful. It's just a little too big for it's britches. Perhaps they could have done a more simple story rather than attempt to take down the Triad. I don't think the original PG13 would hold up to today's standards with all the nudity, but then again, what do I know? If you're going to watch this movie, I don't recommend watching it with kids unless you can get an edited version.
an honest comedy
dbdumonteil25 May 2003
Jean-Marie Poiré probably had to keep a cool head, following the huge success of "the visitors". Its successor is a comedy without too many claims but funny enough to have a good time. Of course, the movie isn't perfect: the making is by moments a bit of a mess and not always well mastered, the screenplay is sometimes predictable and contains a quite important number of reshufflings and even the topic hasn't got anything original: two characters with a different state of mind who are compelled to stay together. But the tandem Depardieu/Clavier manages quite well of the situation and there aren't any injury times. The set gives a joyful entertainment
Ok
morphmanaf17 March 2003
Okay, the plot is a little stupid, but the movie managed to make me laugh during the whole time. The guardian angels are so funny it is unbelievable. Gérard Depardieu and Christian Clavier are simply wonderful. I recommend it if you want to laugh. Only downside is that the action scenes are a little useless, I think.
what you want
Kirpianuscus9 August 2019
Everyhing what you want. From French humor to fight scenes in Hong Kong and Paris, from religion to slices of near reality, from family to...angels. But the best detail - it is a teal film of Christian Clavier and Gerard Depardieu. Their performances are great. And seductiv in profound sense. Short, a lovely comedy. On French style.
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