The Château (2001) User Reviews

Some very funny moments

[themovieadvisor · 6/10 · 18 June 2005]

I think this a very well-acted movie that has some very funny moments.

Unfortunately, I don't believe that it holds together and in the end, you are left wondering if it really made any sense.

I watched in on TV which may be the reason I enjoyed it more than the other commenter. This is not a big screen vehicle. This is really a small film that can be enjoyed as an alternative to watching the sitcoms.

I think that Paul Rudd does a great job playing the neurotic, try-to-be-nice-all-the-time, new age nerd. Romany Malco does a very solid job as a no-nonsense businessman, who tries to play it cool, but deep down is a sweet guy.

It is a pleasant film. A movie that seems to have more potential than it ultimately delivers.

I find it difficult to call this film a Comedy!

[oldsenior · 5/10 · 18 July 2004]

Of all the things I could say about this film, it would'nt be that it could be called a comedy. Most of the characters are hostile, the girl was beautiful and could turn a gay guy straight, (almost), but there's no redeaming features about the other leads. I could'nt help thinking that Paul Rudd was acting, I thought he was supposed to be a good actor and the Rex character was un-necessarily angry, why all the mfs and s words, otherwise he seemed very classy. The American big shot who was going to buy the chateau was hostile. The real estate agent was wonderful. I liked the actor that played Jean, I see where he has a long list of credits to his resume. Overall the dealogue was rather force and strained (there probably was no script and the actors were "winging it") and when suddenly and out of the blue went into a diatribe about "fags" for no reason at all, it let me know that the writers (outline) really had nothing worth while to say and they are probably very shallow people. On the plus side, the French country side as always (and in film) is beautiful. The cinematography and set design were possitives, The overall feeling was warm and enchanting. Thanks!

Uneven, yet interesting, study of intercultural conflicts

[eroka · 17 July 2001]

This film centers around the story of two brothers (one white, one black - turns out he was adopted) go to France to claim their château which they inherited from their French uncle whom they have never met. What follows is a series of interactions between the French and Americans, where language barriers play a vital role. Though a comedy, it's not too funny, most of the time. It's even rather simple, as the love sub-plot is not too interesting, and too many laughs have to do with misusing French by the wonderful Paul Rudd (when will he get his big break, eh?) and some laughs that have to do with his black brother and his "jive talk". Shot in what seems to be DV, the look of the film is quite uneven, going from natural landscape look that looks like film to grainy night scenes that look like 8 mm. I am also not at all sure that the sound mix was done in DTS, as the current details state in IMDB. It was hardly the 2.0 and there is no need for more than that. The movie is quite talkie, but as such, does not really analyze the French attitude of the Americans. It is in the end a comedy about how the French are viewed by the Americans, not so much what the French really think of their ill-mannered new owners. Both sides are ludicrous and rude, the Americans with their superficial understanding of land and tradition, and the French with their inefficient way of doing business and their complete distrust of anything not French. While the movie was amusing, it lacks the serious discussion of clashing cultures and national protection of traditions and assets in a multi-cultural capitalist world, and issue we have seen many films about coming from Europe in recent years.

This is suppose to be a comedy right?

[phantopp · 2/10 · 25 July 2008]

Graham" (Paul Rudd) and his adopted, African-American brother (Romany Malco) go to France to claim a château they have inherited from an uncle they don't know.

The two meet the staff of the place, and there is an immediate language barrier and culture clash.

Now, the two have to figure out what to do with the place.

The first thing you can't help notice is that the film itself is very grainy. In fact, at times, I felt like I was watching video transferred to film. At other times, I felt as if the footage was a lot older than it is.

However, there are some good performances in this film. But, some interaction was hard to believe. There was probably some problems in the writing of the scenes, because this script was far from perfect. The two leads did a pretty good job,and many times appeared to be more friends than adoptive brothers.

If I am not mistaken, this movie is suppose to be a comedy. When you have people speaking two different languages with no way of being able to understand one another, it can be funny -- if the script is done properly. This movie missed many times to take advantage of this problem. If the two lead Americans were more comical, then they could have made the scenes a lot more funny. They completely missed making them understandable to the French funnier.

Another problem was the weakly written romantic subplot. I felt little to no chemistry between the ones involved in this plot device.

Another problem with this film is that it mostly takes place in the château and its grounds. We get a couple of scenes on a train and at a train station, but we never get to meet anybody who lives near the place. They never even go to a nearby village where the two Americans could have gone to for whatever reason, lose their French-English dictionary and tried to ask for directions back. I just could not laugh at anything in this film.

The soundtrack is completely forgettable. I can only recall two or three songs in the entire movie, and most were during the closing credits.

The only thing interesting in this movie is when a particular character reveals himself to the Americans. However, with the poor writing of the film, they barely go anywhere with this plot twist.

I just can not recommend this movie. But, check it out when it is on HBO -- when you're really desperate to see a movie.

Paul Rudd does a great job at making the audience want to kill him.

[brownrainjacket · 1/10 · 12 September 2002]

After sitting in the theater to watch this "hysterical" independent film called The Chateau, I found that I could find absolutely nothing redeeming about it. I sat for what seemed like 2 hrs, watching this supposed comedy, and I began wondering how a filmmaker can devote more than that to making the film that I just watched in torment. Honestly, I appreciate Paul Rudd's performance. The character he's playing is a tremendous ass, as well as his adopted brother. And they both do pretty good jobs at demonstrating that. But is there an actual reason to give 2 hrs to viewing this movie? I mean, besides studying intercultural conflicts? Where the American visitors are of course, the ignorant ones, and the French are of course the pompous ones. Nothing new. It does a great job at exploiting that to the brink. In fact, if one chose to, one could say that The Chateau does a great job at exploiting the Indy genre to the brink. Lots of film-makers tend to make films about things that interest them, rather than what will interest the audience, and that's fine. But what could Jesse Peretz be thinking?

worst film ever seen in theatre

[kipconlon · 1/10 · 25 August 2002]

Putrid. All improvised, all awful. So bottomlessly unfunny, I can't even tell you. The circumstances forced me to sit through it, but were I alone, I would have sprinted out after five minutes. So bad. So very bad. Stay away. How could you, o people who made the Chateau? Terrible. So bad.

Don't Waste Your Time

[fortress111 · 1/10 · 13 March 2005]

This is it. If you have been studying film, and want to know which of all mass released movies (MGM) is the WORST one ever filmed, this is the one.

See it just once just to know what BAD REALLY is... if you can think of or name a CATEGORY of film-making, this one deserves a manure award for that category.

Photography...awful...grainy... Sound...poorly miked, garbled Acting...nothing funny here...just two punks saying the "F" word every ten seconds Direction...Could a movie be MORE segmented, unfollowable, and had a worse scene coverage than THIS one...? Don't think so. Writing...or more like, WHAT writing...most of the movie consists of poorly filmed shapes saying "Hello" to each other. NOTHING funny here.

Save the money if you need it. If you want to study BAD film-making, study THIS ONE! Calling this movie crap gives a bad name to the word crap.

wry and comic film touches several genres

[clevernamehere · 8/10 · 16 August 2001]

Paul Ruud is hysterical in "The Chateau," a largely improvised indie feature filmed in France. The film is very comic--almost sit-com-ish-- but also borrows liberally from the romance and drama genres, too. It's a fun movie that's perhaps most perfect for a date or a "night in" cuddling on the couch; also a very good film to watch with friends who are sick of your standard studio fare...

Horrible waste of time

[lokidog · 2/10 · 18 April 2015]

This should have been a horror film where all the characters were killed off - in ever more devious and tortuous ways. None of the characters are likable. The plot itself is actually interesting, but it's completely undone by all the unbelievable details. One of the worst is the brotherhood of the two Americans - Rudd and Malco. These two did not grow up together! To me they seemed to be random people who met on a train rather than brothers. There is a sort of explanation for this, but it is not at all believable, and actually takes away from the storyline - I think they realized something needed to be done as the actors were not well cast. There are other films with similar plots like "A Good Year", and "Year of the Comet" that, although not great films, are much more satisfying.

very funny

[dbdbdbdbdee · 8/10 · 9 September 2007]

I really enjoyed this unconventional film. I found the hand-held camera work and video quality of film suited the narrative and tone and the actors did very convincing jobs of the characters they portrayed. The french/American culture clash was done to great comic effect. Paul Rudd was brilliant as well as Romany Malco and Sylvie Testud, whose work I was not familiar with. I've been wanting to see this movie since it came out and I was not disappointed. If you are up for something a little more off the cuff than what usually come out of America, you will be glad to find this movie. It seems like a really good student film with great acting that actually got the resources necessary to see the film through as it was conceived of.

Tres bon, tres bon!

[Rogue-32 · 8/10 · 23 August 2002]

Saw this at a screening last night and thoroughly enjoyed it - a very clever and nimble little film that operates on a loopy, improvisational tone all its own. Charming, witty and wise, with the biggest charm factor belonging to French actress Sylvie Testud, who transforms the screen into pure magic whenever she appears.

Finally, someone dares to be different!

[amassed · 10/10 · 15 September 2001]

Amazingly, "The Chateau" provides raw humor and entertainment to the very end. Director Jesse Peretz manages to get the best performance EVER out of Paul Rudd (Clueless, Cider House Rules, Romeo & Juliet). Paul Rudd (Graham Granville) and newcomer Romany Malco (Alan 'Rex' Granville) play brothers in a hilarious fish out of water scenario in which they are brought together by an unexpected inheritance of a French Chateau.

"The Chateau" is far from formulaic. Romany Malco's versatility not only provides a good dose of hilarity to the film but his character is both intimidating and sexy at the same time. He is truly a unique talent that deserves to be attached to such a film. Paul Rudd manages to flub the French language in such a way that makes his terrible rendition of the French language painfully funny! This is the best performance I have ever seen from Paul Rudd and I hope to see many more.

I found this film both entertaining and inspiring.

C`e un great filme!

[spicyjojo7 · 9/10 · 5 August 2001]

This film made me laugh hard like no other has for a VERY long time. Paul Rudd is fantastic as the culturally inept but big-hearted Graham while Romany Malco plays the all-too-smooth, self proclaimed "professional", Allen (Rex)to perfection. The film follows their misadventures as they travel to the south of France to claim the chateau which their great-uncle Jacques has left to them at his passing. The stuff that ensues is none too surprising - miscommunications due to language barriers, slapstick style antics from the devious servants,Pierre and Sabine - but it works. A stand out performance comes from Sylvie Testud, the seemingly timid maid, Isabelle, whose subtle performance is the glue of the film. If you have a sense of humour and a pulse, this movie is for you.

Mediocre at best

[dathaler · 2 September 2002]

Had its moments, but by and large, I was disappointed. Paul Rudd makes an idiot out of himself, prattling on and on and ON AND ON, not only in broken French, but also in English. I can't help feeling just a little embarrassed for him. I also can't help feeling that he should somehow apologize for making Americans look like bumbling idiots and for doing anything but helping to improve American-French relations (whatever state they happen to be in).

This was pretty funny

[SPK2 · 8/10 · 30 June 2003]

The audience I saw this film with laughed pretty hard throughout the movie. Of course, there were only seven people in the theater...but I guess we all enjoyed ourselves. It's the (somewhat improvised) story of two brothers who inherit a chateau in France, each making their separate plans while dealing with the longtime servants who regard them as an intrusion. Somehow I didn't mind that this film was shot on digital video, even though I usually dislike that stuff; maybe it was the humor that distracted me.

Quelle Merde!

[weez1959 · 18 October 2003]

How did this make it to DVD!!??!! The filming quality was horrible! Looks like they went to France, knocked on a door and asked if whoever lived there would like to be part of the movie they were filming (with a budget of $5.00)

Vive Sylvie Testud

[ivrydov · 27 September 2005]

The movie was on cable here in Israel and I thought it had potential -- clash of cultures, conflicting interests between the heirs and the staff, but it went absolutely nowhere. Too bad. It was a half-baked writing effort.

But coming from Canada and knowing how francophones who don't speak a lot of English react when bombarded by anglophones who think they do, I must rate Sylvie Testud's performance as a tour-de-force. She was clicking on the English words she might have been expected to catch, and straining at the rest, just as would happen in real life. This is not easy to achieve and she must be an actress of considerable skills. I would love to see her in a remake of Madame Bovary or something of that nature in English. This girl is as good as they come.

There was one very funny scene in my book so it wasn't a total loss, when the Rudd character reads the fractured French letter he wrote to the staff who could not understand a word of it, except the main one, vendre, causing an uproar.