This alleged comedy is an escapist release for those who are too lazy to explore the world themselves. The autobiographical (?) story features Xavier (Romain Duris) who leaves his nagging mother to travel the world in Barcelona, Spain to learn English. He rooms with six other exchange students, from Belgium, Italy, Spain, Germany, Denmark, and the U.K., each living up to a particular stereotype.
The film illustrates the diversity (as well as the similarities) of Europeans from different countries, and is nicely-paced. There are funny moments, but not too many of them. This is in some ways a typical French film (not that I've seen that many of them) with a lot of style but little content.
In the end, the boy who becomes worldly after his travels realises that he is in no mood for a desk job and decides to follow his passion: writing. Of course, he writes about his experiences in Spain which gets made into a movie which ends up being titled L'Auberge Espagnole.