People are voting emotionally.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

A surrealistic story of two credible typical men with a tendency to loneliness, which is made even more intensive through chance events, to meet, and then, despite their dissimilar characters, proceed to get to know and like each other even though the circumstances of their first encounter are extremely inauspicious. Sergi López, playing the Catalonian Paco Cazale, and Sacha Bourdo, playing the Russian Nino, do not put in brilliant acting performances, but they are sufficiently good to convey the pathos in their roles, which becomes more apparent as the film progresses.The women they meet all behave credibly, but the sum of all the encounters is so unrealistic as to appear nonsensical, even with the anchor of a picturesque background of rural western France and many of its aspects. This surrealism, or irreality, is mercifully not nearly as pronounced as in 'Buffet froid', and is even somewhat entertaining, but it detracts from the otherwise fascinating character studies of both the two travelling companions and the various people they meet.The double date and the game of 'Bonjour, la France' are highlights in this film, but many other scenes are also of good quality and entertainment value. These two scenes and the survey scenes are particularly well acted.The dialogue reminds the viewer of the announced purpose of the journey and the event which one can expect when the two men return. When this stage is reached, a characteristically unexpected turn leads to a refreshingly unexpected but unfortunately unrealistic conclusion.Good ideas and good dialogue are woven rather weakly into a rather good story.

Poirier's film is as good a study of loneliness as anything you're likely to see. (PT Anderson's Magnolia is on the same level.) Nino's search for love is heartbreaking and, the film uses all its various scenes to underline how loneliness affects everything the characters do. The men wander, but the film doesn't.Western is gentle, delicate, and touching--and manages to avoid any sentimentality. In other words, a rare gem.

With such a great concept as two guys hitching around France seducing women and getting into various scrapes, you'd wonder how you could go wrong, but despite its moments, this comes across as a rather half-baked affair, of interest mainly due to some impressive acting and the way they've made use of an obviously miniscule budget. The main problem is in its arbitrary plotting, which consists of a number of lengthy sequences, the majority of which seem to have no evident role within any larger narrative arc, and at times seeming like they are just there to make up time. Some of these scenes are impressive in their own right (the double-date dinner party, and the game of 'Bonjour a la France'), but it soon becomes apparent that the film is going absolutely nowhere. That's not to say that the scenery along the way isn't impressive, and the repartee between our two protagonists is generally amusing.

French director Manuel Poirier has made an intelligent and sensitive road-movie about two foreigners spending three weeks together hitch-hiking through northern France. Cutting out the usual french existentialist dialogue, Poirier concentrates on everyday life. There is a striking simplicity and calmness in this movie. Nevertheless it crackles with tragedy, poignancy and wit. Western is by far the best european roadmovie to have been made up to now and I recommend the film unreservedly.Western was awarded the "Prix de jury" at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.