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A Major Disappointment

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Monsieur Hulot (Jacques Tati) goes on a seaside holiday. He stays at a seaside hotel and meets various characters.Jacques Tati is doing his character in a minimal dialog performance similar to Mr. Bean in a later incarnation. It's very light and probably way too light. He needs more physicality and it would be better to be completely quiet. Also comedy doesn't always translate the language and cultural barrier. This movie needs a more concentration of jokes. The slapstick don't always hit. Again the touch is too light. The limited dialog does leave this with a lack of energy. For example, Mr. Bean puts in laugher to inject energy and the old silent movies would have music. There is too much quietness in this. I do get the idea of the comedy and one must allow for the filming in another era. However, there just isn't enough big laughs.

One of the most famous French comedies of all time, Tati's Monsieur Hulot's Holiday is an interesting farce that explores human nature.Much of the film is filled with slapstick pratfalls and one's enjoyment will depend on how much appreciation one has for that kind of comedy but, more subtly, there is much observational comedy, too, and the film relishes in mocking the traits of certain classes of people who cannot leave their behind the facades of their social roles, even whilst on holiday together.Whether or not one likes his style of comedy, it cannot be denied that Tati's timing is brilliant and the climactic scene involving what lies at the end of the hose proves him to be possibly the unluckiest character of all time.Interestingly, the cinematography is often static and there can be as much occurring to characters in the background as those taking centre stage, again emphasising the observational nature of much of the comedy on display here.Music, lighting and other effects are minimal and the film moves to a light tempo, reflecting the holiday mood, before building to its sudden climax.Ultimately, there is no doubt that this film is greatly overrated, yet it is also a showcase of a certain style of French comedy. Depending on your appreciation for it, you may or may not derive a lot of enjoyment from this film.

excerpt, more at my location - Those reverent of the bane of slapstick British TV comedy, Mr. Bean, may be surprised to learn that the show sprang from much deeper-rooted influences within comedic cinema. In 1953, Jacques Tati followed up his debut film, Jour de Fete, with Les Vacances De M. Hulot, the tale of a man who gets himself into hairier situations than the undeniably popular Bean, yet escapes relatively unharmed. Les Vacances De M. Hulot is less straightforward, and rather a damning social commentary from the director at its helm, but nevertheless uses similar techniques to elicit amusement from its audience.Les Vacances De M. Hulot is modestly funny and undeniably focused, zipping along with character, style, and an infectiously cheeky demeanour. The stylistic novelty of Tati's film initially feels like it's going to be a trawl through cause-and-effect comedy, but emerges as something totally different and eminently more worthwhile. It's more than an exercise in hazard perception: Les Vacances De M. Hulot is a piquant jaunt through tetchy social terrain, exhibiting all of the hallmarks of an early Charlie Chaplin picture, and packing more than enough of the punch.

The importance and influence of French comedy master Jacques Tati's most famous character Mr. Hulot is not to be underestimated: his nearly silent antics carry on the non-verbal tradition from the earliest decades of cinema and his iconic style lives on in more recent comedy characters such as Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean. The 1953 film classic Mr. Hulot's Holiday marks the first appearance of the lovable Monsieur and was also Tati's breakthrough success to international audiences.The plot of the movie is pretty neatly summarized by the title "Mr. Hulot's Holiday". At the beginning the eponymous clumsy and pipe-smoking but always polite loner (played by Tati himself) arrives in a sunny beach resort somewhere in France along with many other tourists ranging from a workaholic businessman to a politics-obsessed intellectual and a beautiful young woman named Martine (Nathalie Pascaud). Hulot is planning to take it easy on his holiday (like he always does) but it looks like his presence keeps inadvertently causing various unexpected incidents at the resort.Just like in the later Hulot films, Tati utters few words in the lead role and allows others do the talking when necessary. Most of the time he relies on visual gags that he finds in the most mundane of things: a swinging door at the hotel, the flowing sugar dough of an ice cream seller, a noisy jazz record, Hulot's malfunctioning antique car... In many scenes creative sound effects have a much bigger importance than dialogue: a squeaky car horn, a mumbly train station loudspeaker, the swinging door... Music is used more sparingly than could be expected, but the relaxing tunes on the soundtrack are a joy to listen whenever they are heard, even though the sound quality was not the best available in the version I saw.In spite of the sunny and light atmosphere that differs from the urban settings of the other Hulot movies, there is a very melancholic undercurrent running under the surface of the story. Hulot remains so alone from start to beginning (despite getting some attention from the beautiful Martine and the other tourists) that his character just cannot be dismissed as a mere buffoon. Even though he doesn't seem to mind spending time by himself, he is obviously out of place among the busy normalcy that surrounds him wherever he goes. At least to me this outsiderness is more than just nostalgia for "good old times" when such personalities had it easier to find their place in society; it is something that resonates with most people at one point or another in their lives. Like in the next Hulot film Mon oncle (1958), children are the ones who Hulot gets along with best... perhaps both share the feeling of being on a different level than the expected form of a responsible adult.Anyway, back to the movie... The first two times I saw Les vacances, I didn't care for it much since it felt too slow-paced and much longer than it actually is. Now, after having seen other Tati films and learning to appreciate comedies on a broader level than as simple joke automats, I notice I like Les vacances a lot more than before. It is not an aggressive laugh riot, nor does it attempt to be, but instead offers a nuanced tragicomic tale for more mature tastes. As one of the shorter Hulot movies, it can also serve as a good introduction to Tati's cinema, even though personally I saw the appeal of Mon oncle before Les vacances. At any rate, both films are classics worthy of their reputations, must-sees for film buffs and quietly amusing comedies in their own right.