Christian Clavier Movies

Six of France's greatest screen comedians reunite in this long-awaited sequel to the classic box-office hits Les Bronzes and Les Bronzes Font du Ski. Skirt-chasing Popeye (Thierry Lhermitte) has settled down and married beautiful Graziella (Ornella Muti), and together they run an upscale resort hotel in Sardinia. However, Popeye still has his eye on the ladies rather than the bottom line -- he's carrying on with a beautiful young cook -- and Graziella warns him that he has to stop giving free rooms to his old friends. Unfortunately, this edict comes down just as Popeye's pals arrive, expecting a stay on the house. Jerome (Christian Clavier) was making a fortune as a plastic surgeon until a malpractice suit ended his career; now he hopes to reconnect with his former wife Gigi (Marie-Anne Chazel). However, when Gigi shows up it's clear she's also been seeing a plastic surgeon, and has brought along her new beau, upscale wig salesman Jean-Claude (Michel Blanc). And wealthy and smug Bernard (Gerard Jugnot) and Nathalie (Josiane Balasko) arrive with their dog in tow, though their vacation goes through a rough patch when Bernard makes a potentially disturbing discovery about their son. Les Bronzes 3: Amis Pour La Vie (aka Les Bronzes 3: Friends Forever) was directed by Patrice Leconte, who was also behind the camera for the original two films. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Les Visiteurs co-stars Jean Reno and Christian Clavier re-team for this comic book adaptation that follows a hip Parisian private eye on his quest to locate a Corsican "citizen" due to receive a large inheritance. Jack Palmer (Clavier) is a Paris-based detective whose swollen ego could cast a shadow over the Eiffel Tower. Ange Leoni (Reno) is a native of Corsica whose location can't be pinned down by even the most dogged of detectives. Approached by an obscure, small-time attorney and charged with the seemingly simple task of locating the missing Leoni, gifted gumshoe Palmer accepts the job under the false assumption that it will be the easiest money of his professional career. Soon after arriving on the island of Corsica, however, this superstar sleuth finds of just how mistaken he truly is. Not only are the locals suspiciously tight-lipped about the mysterious Corsican's whereabouts, but it quickly begins to appear as if the underworld has taken an ominous interest in Palmer's "open and shut" case as well. Later, after being brutalized by policemen, kidnapped by thugs, and having his car bombed, Palmer begins to comprehend the true futility of his search upon learning that his target is both the godfather of the Corsican mafia and France's most wanted. As the identities of the hunter and the hunted gradually become harder to distinguish, the detective is led on a wild goose chase around the picturesque island while finding the charms of Leoni's lovely wife Lea (Caterina Murino) increasingly difficult to resist. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Based on the original '60s French comic books by René Goscinny, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre is the big-budget sequel to the 1999 box-office hit Astérix and Obélix vs. Caesar. Empress Cleopatra (Monica Bellucci) makes a wager with Julius Caesar (played by writer/director Alain Chabat) that her people can build a beautiful palace in three months. She chooses architect Numerobis (Jamel Debbouze) for the project, which must be completed in time or he will be fed to the crocodiles. Numerobis travels to Gaul to get help from the superpowered Panoramix (Claude Rich) and the warriors Astérix (Christian Clavier) and Obélix (Gérard Depardieu), along with their faithful pet Dogmatix. They use their magic potion to make the Egyptian slave-labor population into superheroes, thereby building the palace in no time. Meanwhile, the angry architect Amonbofis (Gérard Darmon) and Julius Caesar don't want to see them succeed. At the time of its release, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre was the most expensive French film ever made, with a budget of $50 million. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Victor Hugo's classic story of one man's struggle to redeem himself -- and another man's efforts to bring him down -- is brought to the screen again (there have been at least 18 previous screen adaptations) in this epic-scale television production with a distinguished international cast. Jean Valjean (Gerard Depardieu) is a man forced by circumstance into a life of crime when he steals bread to ease his hunger, ending up behind bars for 19 years. Upon his release, the destitute Valjean attempts to rob the home of a bishop, but the bishop takes pity on him, and Valjean turns over a new leaf, becoming an honest and upright businessman and civic leader. But Javert (John Malkovich), a former guard at the prison where Valjean served time, is now the Chief of Police, and he's determined not to let Valjean live down his criminal past. Les Miserables also features Jeanne Moreau, Virginie Ledoyen, Christian Clavier, and Asia Argento; the miniseries was produced in two versions, a French-language version for European television that ran eight hours, and a four-hour English-language adaptation that was broadcast in a pair of two-hour installments on January 7 and 8, 2001, on the Fox Family Channel. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

At $23 million, this sequel cost three times as much as the earlier Les Visiteurs (1993), France's second largest postwar success (with 13.6 million tickets sold). The follow-up features a voiceover summary of the first film while pages flip in an illuminated book. In the 1993 film, a magic potion launched 11th-century knight Godefroy de Montmirail (Jean Reno) and his loyal vassal Jacquouille la Fripouille (Christian Clavier) spinning through time to the modern-day French countryside where they found the Montmirail chateau converted into an upscale resort run by Jacquart (also played by Clavier), an innkeeper soon transported to the Middle Ages. The sequel opens with a prologue showing Jacquouille and Ginette (Marie-Anne Chazel) creating confusion in a contemporary supermarket. A stolen relic left in the 20th Century must be returned to the past, or Godefroy's marriage will be cursed. Jacquart faces his own problems -- wolves, angry peasants, torture, and burning at the stake. All the key characters flit back and forth between the 1990s and the past. In the present day, playboy Hubert de Montmirail (Reno) has been missing for 15 years, and his shrewish wife Cora (Claire Nadeau) finds the missing relic. When Godefroy turns up, he's naturally assumed to be the missing Hubert. Les Visiteurs II had the biggest opening day in French film history, breaking the record set by Men in Black and generating Gallic guffaws galore in a country where few films ever receive the sequel treatment. English language title The Corridors of Time: The Visitors II. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Two men find themselves pulled away from their natures by otherworldly forces in this French comedy. While they're very different people, Antoine Carco (Gerard Depardieu), the owner of a strip club in Paris, and Father Tarain (Christian Clavier), a straight-laced man of the cloth, have one thing in common -- both are followed by guardian angels who guide them and tell them what to do. However, the good father's angel has a wild streak and likes urging him into trouble, while Carco's is very proper and a bit appalled with what he does for a living. When friend of Carco's is killed in Hong Kong, Carco honors the man's last request and flies to Hong Kong to bring his son back to Paris to be with his mother. Carco is also asked to fetch some money from members of the Triads (the Hong Kong Mafia), but this doesn't go over especially well with the mobsters. To insure the boy's safe return, Carco asks Father Tarain, who has been traveling, to take the boy back to Paris for him. The father agrees and takes the boy, not knowing that Carco stashed $40 million in Triad money in the kid's suitcase. Before long, Carso's conscience is bothering him about his recklessness, while Father Tarain's guardian angel is encouraging him to take a walk on the wild side. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this crime comedy, Urbain (Christian Clavier) only got married because his wife blackmailed him into it: she was a tax fraud investigator. Since she's divorcing him, and will be entitled to a share of his prefabricated housing business, he's been skimming as much money as he can from it. The business will probably be bankrupt when the divorce goes through, but what does he care? He's got oodles of gold stashed in the walls of a model home mounted on a trailer. He and his beloved and similarly avaricious grandmother (Tsilla Chelton) plan to smuggle them in to Switzerland. Meanwhile, his soon-to-be ex-wife (Catherine Jacob) and his former chauffeur (Philippe Khorsand), who have been lovers for a long time, get wind of the scheme and take up the chase. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Long ago, when they were mere lads, the men of this movie had belonged to a rock group. When their lead singer, a woman many of them love, left the group to move to Canada, they broke up and the men went their seperate ways. They remained in contact, friendly, but somewhat distant. The impending arrival of their old lead singer for a concert (she's now a successful pop singer), has brought them back together. All their old romantic feelings and unhealed rivalries come out for an airing, along with reminiscences of bygone days. Each of them has his life revived in some way by this unexpectedly momentous event. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Advertising executive Gerard Floque (Roland Giraud) has the worst day of his life in this routine comedy. He comes home after losing his job to find his daughter arrested on drug charges and his wife Cecile (Clementine Celaire) in bed with a famous television personality (Gerard Rinaldi). Gerard finds romantic solace in the arms of his former secretary Martine (Mary-Anne Chazel). ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

In this action thriller, Richard Anconina is Willie, a young and lonesome cop who loves lonesome cowboy music. While on a drug case Willie comes across a mulatta named Jo (model Ambre of Senegalese extraction), who is trapped in a dismal life of prostitution by two abusive Lebanese brothers, who also work in the illegal weapons business. Risking his own life, Willie frees Jo from their fierce imprisonment, but the battered woman runs right back again. Understanding her dilemma, Willie keeps at it until she comes around and stays with him -- but by now the two arms dealers have long decided to use their merchandise to wipe Willie off the Parisian streets. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide