The original French version "La Chevre" ('the goat', in France a symbol of bad luck), with Pierre Richard and Gerard Depardieu, is much funnier, but I too agree that Martin Short is a great comedian and that this movie works not bad. Anyway I'm sure that a couple like Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor would have do a much better job. Wilder also worked in an adaptation of another funny and successful French movie: "The Woman in Red", and it turned into a little masterpiece... For Martin Short "Pure Luck" was the second "French" adaptation after "Three Fugitives" from 1989 with Nick Nolte (in France the original movie starred again the duo Richard-Depardieu).