Parisiennes are among the rudest people on the planet, and are damned proud of it. The rest of France is pretty friendly.

I second the notion that this is indeed a mixed bag.  Yes, there are provincial Francophiles who deserve a negative reputation- but America's vision and impression of France is one of the most backwater, ignorant, and flawed stereotypes I've ever known.  Many French students and workers come here to America and are really great people.

Mixed bag which depends mostly on how well you massage their National Treasure: their language. I speak semi-conversational French (I surprise myself once in a while how the language still rolls off my tongue. I recently was asked to interpret for a French art instructor at the local college, as he was extremely insecure about his English. Actually, he was better than he thought, but a Frenchman's sensitivity to language borders religiosity. The benefits of doing this were the nude models. Let's seeee...RIA, or nude models? RIA or nude models...)

I did well in the South of France...in Nice  and Cannes, where people are pretty much laid-back, multi-lingual and couldn't give a shit. In the French Alps, my experience was  that the only thing that the locals cared about was how long les touristes were gonna hang and how quickly they could 'buy-and-leave'. In the cities it seemed that a good effort was always appreciated. Nice people are everywhere and how friendly they are mostly depends on how you approach them.

From my admittedly limited experience in France, I would say it seems more like the French just try to ignore you more than being outright rude.

Depends on whether or not they like Americans.  One village near me was hateful as they come and the one on the other side of where I lived welcomed me with open arms.  Overall I was pretty welcomed throughout the country.