Film

The Visitors

Name: The Visitors
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy
Released: 1993
Cast: Jean Reno, Christian Clavier, Valérie Lemercier, Marie-Anne Chazel, Christian Bujeau

Other titles called The Visitors: the 1972 film.

Portal fantasy
Comedy
Light-hearted

A medieval knight and his oafish servant are flung into 1993 Paris by a botched spell, bewildered by cars, electricity, and casual cruelty. It's a fish-out-of-water comedy that trades entirely in physical slapstick and culture shock—genuinely anarchic, pitched somewhere between Monty Python and a Saturday morning cartoon. Perfect if you want to laugh without thinking very hard.

TMDb rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy broad, physical time-travel farce where medieval manners collide with 1990s gadgets and the jokes come from fish-out-of-water bluster and a sidekick who is gloriously thick.

Skip it if you want sharp, subtle wit or a tight plot; this is loud, cheerful slapstick that leans on repetition and mugging, and some of its humour will feel dated or overplayed.

What it asks of you: Roughly ninety minutes of easy, unhurried silliness, with little to track beyond the next pratfall and no need to pay close attention to anything.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Back to the Future1985

The same engine: ordinary person displaced in time, forced to navigate an alien world using only their wits and whatever's at hand. Sharp writing and genuine warmth beneath the mayhem.

But It's been quoted to death and the effects look dated. If you've already seen it three times, you know the beats.

Ghostbusters1984

Comedy built on collision—absurd supernatural premises meeting practical real-world obstacles. Fast, playful, everything lands. Bill Murray is operating at peak Bill Murray.

But Very 1980s in tone. Depends entirely on whether you find the specific brand of smug funny.

Amélie2001

French whimsy at its most charming: a heroine navigating Paris with mischief and kindness. Visually gorgeous, endlessly inventive, genuinely touching beneath the playfulness.

But Can tip into precious if you're not in the mood for it. The colour palette and indie-film sensibility won't suit everyone.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Visitors

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Delicatessen1991

Both are French comedies of the early 90s that refuse to play it safe, trading in anarchic visual humour and genuine strangeness rather than formula.

French cinema's answer to surrealist dark comedy—a flooded tenement where the landlord is a butcher with sinister plans. Visually baroque, deeply strange, completely committed to its nightmare logic. Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's masterpiece.

But It's grotesque and bleak beneath the visual inventiveness. The humour is pitch-black and the subject matter deeply uncomfortable.

Groundhog Day1993

A comedy premise that spirals outward—starts silly, becomes philosophical, lands as something almost profound. Bill Murray again, this time genuinely moving.

But The pacing is deliberate. If you want constant laughs, the quieter sections will feel slack.

The Pink Panther1963

Physical comedy at the highest level—Jacques Tati territory. Pure slapstick intelligence; every mishap is choreographed like ballet. Funny without words.

But No plot to speak of. Entirely premise-driven; if visual gags alone don't move you, you'll be lost.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Joyous, exuberant, technically flawless. A film about making films, about the gap between performance and reality. The dancing is astonishing.

But It's a musical. If that word makes you uncomfortable, nothing here will change your mind.

Mrs. Doubtfire1993

Released the same year as The Visitors—another comedy about a man displaced from his world, trying to survive chaos. Robin Williams doing both slapstick and genuine emotion.

But The heartstring-tugging competes with the jokes and doesn't always win. Some of the sentiment feels tacked on.

Splash1984

A mermaid in New York City, unable to understand the world around her. Sweet-natured fish-out-of-water comedy with romance and genuine charm.

But Quite sentimental. Tom Hanks doing his early earnest thing, which reads differently now.

Enchanted2007

A fairy-tale princess deposited in modern Manhattan, hilarity ensuing. Self-aware about its own silliness, energetic, and genuinely well-made.

But Heavy on the Disney schmaltz. Patrick Dempsey fans only, probably, and even then it's a lot of singing.

The Accidental Tourist1988

A man fundamentally alienated from the world around him, except The Visitors is anarchic slapstick and this is understated tragedy—the same displacement, inverted in tone and pitch.

A man adrift in modern life, unable to navigate its basic rhythms, trying to find footing. Gentle, melancholy, wise—about grief masquerading as order. William Hurt doing his most withdrawn, affecting work.

But It's quiet and interior. Not a comedy, precisely—more a portrait of disconnection. If you want chaos and laughs, this is the opposite.

The Tale of The Princess Kaguya2013

A figure from an older world unable to survive in a newer one, but reimagined as tragedy rather than farce, and in a completely different visual language—showing how the same idea becomes something entirely else depending on register.

A fairy-tale being swallowed by the modern world, except she's a princess from the moon and Japan is medieval. Studio Ghibli at its most visually stunning and narratively ambitious—hand-drawn animation of astonishing beauty, and a story about the cost of transformation.

But It's long, slow-paced, and melancholic. Not a comedy—closer to elegy. Requires patience and will not reward you with laughs.