Welcome to the Sticks (, ) is a 2008 French comedy film directed and co-written by Dany Boon and starring Kad Merad and Boon himself. The film is the highest-grossing French film of all time at the box office in France.

Plot

Philippe Abrams is the manager of the French post office (La Poste) branch in Salon-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, in southern France. He is married to Julie, whose negative character makes his life miserable. Philippe does everything to get a job at an office on the Mediterranean coast to make her happy. As it is perceived that the position will be acquired more easily if one is disabled, Abrams pretends that he is disabled – and is found out by the management. As punishment, he is banished for two years to Bergues, a town near Dunkirk in northern France. Northern France – and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in particular – is considered "the sticks" – a cold and rainy place inhabited by unsophisticated ch'tis who speak a strange dialect (called "''ch'ti'' in local parlance, and "cheutimi in the South). He has to spend his first night at the home of Antoine, a member of his staff who happens to live there. Philippe initially dislikes Antoine for his obnoxious behavior and because he initially thinks Antoine is gay (due to seeing pictures of him crossdressing), but later Philippe finds out that Antoine worked for a carnival for time (where he did impressions of numerous people, men and women alike) and that he secretly has a crush on Annabelle, one of the workers at the post office. Antoine and Philippe subsequently become best friends.

Awards