Like all sequels, this is clearly aimed at printing the same money twice. After the enormous domestic success of Les Visiteurs (1993), the producers want to coin it from the American suburbs, too. The fact that there has been a sequel already - Les Visiteurs 2: Couloirs Du Temps (1998) - points to the slimness of the chances that Just Visiting was going to be worth making, or watching.

It wasn't and isn't.

Duke Thibault (Jean Reno) and his servant André (Christian Clavier) are catapulted from 12th century France to 2000 Chicago by a rather inept wizard, played by Malcolm McDowell - what on earth induced him to take the role can only be guessed at. Once there, they meet Julia (Christina Applegate), who looks a lot like the princess Thibault was about to marry in mediaeval times. That's because she's a descendent, as well as being played by the same actress.

The film's qualities are apparent from the opening frame - lots of voiceover to introduce characters. Further moments from the Ladybird School of Filmmaking follow, accompanied by our first TV show pause, in which to laugh.

It's a curious mishmash. On the one hand, it wants to trot you along a glossy path, passing a (very) few wry jokes as you go, to the inevitable happy ending, rather like those time-travelling films from the Eighties - Back To The Future, Biggles and so on. On the other hand, it wants to be like Monty Python And The Holy Grail, funny about the past and the present. This is where the least weak gags are - Clavier and Reno washing in a toilet bowl is about as amusing as it gets - but since it has an ounce of Python's brains and a third of the narrative slickness of Back To The Future, the film plummets between the two.

The acting is no help. It's extremely workaday. Applegate and Tara Reid aren't too bad, but Reno is asleep and Clavier is awful. Even the basic point that the supposed Baldrick character looks smarter than his owner is overlooked.

The CGI effects are a rancid stew of clangingly obvious references to Terminator 2, Jurassic Park and Aliens and the lighting is thoroughly TV. The cinematography, editing and soundtrack, however, are, at least, competent.

You're left wondering, why make this so-called film? Curiously, an awful lot of money was spent on it, with five units in the extensive crew list, multiple locations and additional CGI.

Money can't buy you love, or affection. What Just Visiting needs is intellectual expenditure.