Just Visiting

Just Visiting (Les Visiteurs en Amérique for the French release) is a 2001 comedy film, a remake of the French film Les Visiteurs, and a spin-off of Les Visiteurs and its sequel, Les Visiteurs 2. It stars Jean Reno, Christina Applegate, Christian Clavier, Malcolm McDowell, Tara Reid, and Bridgette Wilson. It is about a medieval knight and his serf who travel to 21st century Chicago, meeting the knight's descendant. Although the second film has a different storyline, it still is considered an official part of the series.

This was Hollywood Pictures' final production before it folded into the management of its sister company, Touchstone Pictures until Hollywood Pictures released the 2006 horror movie Stay Alive.

Backstory
The backstory takes place in 12th century England, where Lord Thibault is about to marry Princess Rosalind, the daughter of the reigning King. At the wedding banquet, an enemy gives Thibault a potion which makes him hallucinate, and under its influence, he kills his own bride (rather than her father, as in the French version) believing she is a ferocious monster. While under sentence of death, he asks a wizard to give him a drug that will send him back to the moment before he killed Princess Rosalind. The incompetent wizard botches the spell, and instead, Thibault and his servant are sent into the 21st century.

They end up in a museum in Chicago where they are arrested by the police. They are rescued by Julia Malféte (Christina Applegate), a museum employee who closely resembles Princess Rosalind. She thinks that Thibault is her relative who drowned while yachting a couple of years ago. Thibault soon finds out that Julia is descended from his family and realizes he must return to the 12th century to correct the past. Julia introduces them to the modern American style of life where norms from medieval times no longer apply. Before the return to his time, Thibault decides to protect Julia from her money-hungry fiance Hunter (Matt Ross). Meanwhile, his servant Andre falls for a pretty gardener, Angelique (Tara Reid) who presents him with the world of equal rights for all people.

The wizard realizes his mistake and decides to time travel into the future to help Thibault. After he finds him, he successfully prepares a potion for returning to the past. Hunter decides to prevent Thibault by interfering with his plans but Julia finds out his real intentions and breaks up with him. Before he leaves, Thibault tells Julia that she will meet a new and better boyfriend. Then he and the wizard drink the potion and return to the past just before the killing of Princess Rosalind. Hunter finds the remainder of the potion which sends him to the 12th century where he is captured.

Box office
The film opened at #12 at the North American box office making $2,272,489 USD in its opening weekend.

Reception
The film received generally negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes give the film a score of of 33% based on reviews from 78 critics.