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The Château

Play trailer Poster for The Château R Released Aug 9, 2002 1h 33m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
51% Tomatometer 53 Reviews 30% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
The story follows brothers Graham (Paul Rudd) and Allen (Romany Malco) Granville as they make their way from America to small-town France. It appears that their mysterious great-uncle has died, bequeathing upon them an enormous chateau. Excited to sell the property and make a healthy profit, the brothers meet unexpected conflict when they arrive.

Critics Reviews

View All (53) Critics Reviews
Lou Lumenick New York Post Rated: 0.5/4 Jun 5, 2004 Full Review Adam Nayman eye WEEKLY There are enough of the usual only-in-the-movies misunderstandings between Graham and Allen to delay any sort of resolution, but director Jesse Peretz neglects to fill the gaps with any memorably diverting action. Rated: 2.5/5 Dec 2, 2002 Full Review Peter Howell Toronto Star The new faces are interesting, but the old story isn't, especially when it starts to seem more improvised than scripted. Rated: 2/5 Nov 29, 2002 Full Review Film Threat Rated: 3.5/5 Dec 6, 2005 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Jul 20, 2005 Full Review Brandon Judell PopcornQ Unfunny from beginning to even after the end. Rated: 0/5 Apr 11, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (42) audience reviews
Audience Member What in the high hell were they thinking when they made this trash. Both of the lead actors are hilarious (see 40 year old virgin), but this is a family drama about selling french real estate. Unless you just revel in family friction, I can't recommend anyone waste their time on this. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Paul Rudd adds new layers to the bumbling American stereotype, he overthinks yet is thoughtless, his harmlessness is harmful, and it's all shown through little things like flip flops and potatos. I liked it. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member It's worth a watch if you're bored just to see Paul Rudd speak hilariously bad French. The rest of the movie is odd and not particularly funny although amusingly absurd at times. It moves at a steady pace too. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review adam b A decent, small, low-budget dramedy that could of been so, so much better. Fine performances make this work better than expected Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member same ole same ole not very funny Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Graham" (Paul Rudd) and his adopted, African-American brother (Romany Malco) go to France to claim a chateau 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 chateau 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. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Château

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis The story follows brothers Graham (Paul Rudd) and Allen (Romany Malco) Granville as they make their way from America to small-town France. It appears that their mysterious great-uncle has died, bequeathing upon them an enormous chateau. Excited to sell the property and make a healthy profit, the brothers meet unexpected conflict when they arrive.
Director
Jesse Peretz
Producer
Scott Macaulay, Robin O'Hara
Distributor
IFC Films
Rating
R (Strong Language)
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 9, 2002, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 30, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$202.3K
Runtime
1h 33m
Sound Mix
Dolby Stereo
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)