BeanWhen the welfare of one of the most acclaimed objets d'art is on the line, you need to entrust it to the best of the best. Unfortunately, the best wasn't available, and so England sent their apex buffoon to America instead: Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson). Bean is a comedy about a bumbling security guard at an art gallery (Bean) who gets chucked off to the United States, misrepresented as a doctor of art history, and is expected to offer insight into a Los Angeles art gallery's recent acquisition of the famous painting colloquially referred to as "Whistler's Mother". Mr. Bean's stateside stay brings about a veritable cascade of disasters, both hilarious and wince-inducing.
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Mr. Bean's popularity grew from a British television show, called "Mr. Bean"; decked out in his characteristic tweed jacket, the maladroit bloke would get into assorted mischief from episode to episode--Mr. Bean's segue into movies was inevitable. Yet Bean is quintessentially an American comedy, transporting his awkward fumbling from his home turf of London to America and surrounding him with a bunch of Yanks--like the curator of the Grierson Art Gallery, David Langley (Peter MacNicol)--adding a "fish out of water" element to the mix. Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie--it's full whimsical title--begins in Great Britain, where the board of directors at the museum where he "works" is enthusiastically preparing to fire him for sleeping on the job; this notion is quashed unequivocally by the chairman (John Mills) for reasons that are rightfully puzzling to all (including the audience). The board's sly circumnavigation to this favoritism is to ship the fool off to America, despite leading to irrevocable damage to the art world. Bean flagrantly defies realism or plausibility; everything the hapless Bean does leads to calamity. The film revolves around maintaining his inadvertent ruse as an expert art historian, despite having no training--it doesn't help that he describes his "job" as "sitting in a corner and looking at the paintings". The core of the movie is found in the series of wacky encounters where Bean invariably draws chaos into his orbit like a gravity well. David--and everyone else at the Grierson--has essentially been trolled by the Brits into believing that Bean is a scholar. David defends this man's genius--despite having never met him--yet each assertion is followed by a cutaway showing Bean acting the fool again and again. Consider his poor judgment after he lands at the airport in America; he gets excited to see that the police all have guns, and he pretends to pull one out of his coat pocket, leading to a tense standoff before he is "disarmed". There is nary a scene in which Bean is not being a paragon of silliness--even his early morning routine has him shaving his tongue with an electric razor, then hastily swishing instant coffee and hot water together in his mouth.
Bean is not a movie that prides itself on depth, underscored as Mr. Bean stammers his way through a speech at the end about the significance of family represented in the painting. The film flourishes instead by painting scenes of outrageous and cringeworthy comedy with a proverbial trowel. David becomes the straight man to Bean's idiocy, trying to interpret the eccentricities of a man he has been told is a highly-acclaimed art historian, then panicking after Bean takes his cataclysmic clumsiness to unparalleled heights. Bean merges Atkinson's deft characterization of the foolish oaf with the rising histrionics of MacNicol--a complimentary comedy duo reminiscent of the TV show, "Perfect Strangers". David plays damage control to Bean's incompetence, making excuses for his idiosyncrasies and then trying to cover up the messes, until finally resigning himself to an inevitable reckoning. His boss, George Grierson (Harris Yulin), all but threatens that his career is on the line over Bean's behavior, and his wife, Alison (Pamela Reed), makes virtually the same threat with respect to their marriage. Bean's arrival becomes a turning point for David, forcing him to take stock of his priorities in life. He obsesses about his career in art, assuming that Bean's accidental sabotage of his life will leave him begging for change on the street. But David is as (almost) much to blame for this pickle as Bean; he gets wise to Bean's unintended chicanery early enough, but doesn't toss the big-eared guy out on the street. He pities Mr. Bean--who has been already been invited to stay in Los Angeles by David et al--but David is also a control freak who refuses to admit that something has slipped through his grasp. (Take the scene where he sits his family down to "discuss" Bean staying with them; they call him out on his charade, knowing that the decision has already been made.) After David concludes that his plummeting life has reached terminal velocity, the movie waxes melodramatic, complete with a cover of The Beatles' "Yesterday"; this is, of course, subverted for comedy after he steps into the shower, somehow unaware that Bean was already in it. Yet Bean is not a complex character study, but a collection of madcap set pieces cobbled together. The ultimate insanity comes when Bean is somehow allowed to remain alone in the high-security room with "Whistler's Mother", which has been purchased by blowhard patriot, General Newton (Burt Reynolds). What follows is a perfect encapsulation of everything that makes Mr. Bean a comedy icon, as he proceeds to turn what a minor incident into a full-blown catastrophe--David's reaction to his desperate attempt to remedy the situation is priceless. Yet Bean displays uncharacteristic aptitude at concealing this disaster in Mission: Impossible fashion, much to the distress of an unfortunate security guard. Bean makes an ironic case for its eponymous "hero" as a "national treasure" in how the defaced painting is dealt with--after all, every trip should have a memorable souvenir.
Recommended for: Fans of a silly comedy about a goofy doofus who comes to America and brings his signature ineptitude and penchant for inadvertent destruction as carry-ons. The audience for Bean may find themselves shouting at the screen from all of the havoc Mr. Bean wreaks, aware that what begins as a faux pas can at any moment balloon into a hilarious disaster.
Bean is not a movie that prides itself on depth, underscored as Mr. Bean stammers his way through a speech at the end about the significance of family represented in the painting. The film flourishes instead by painting scenes of outrageous and cringeworthy comedy with a proverbial trowel. David becomes the straight man to Bean's idiocy, trying to interpret the eccentricities of a man he has been told is a highly-acclaimed art historian, then panicking after Bean takes his cataclysmic clumsiness to unparalleled heights. Bean merges Atkinson's deft characterization of the foolish oaf with the rising histrionics of MacNicol--a complimentary comedy duo reminiscent of the TV show, "Perfect Strangers". David plays damage control to Bean's incompetence, making excuses for his idiosyncrasies and then trying to cover up the messes, until finally resigning himself to an inevitable reckoning. His boss, George Grierson (Harris Yulin), all but threatens that his career is on the line over Bean's behavior, and his wife, Alison (Pamela Reed), makes virtually the same threat with respect to their marriage. Bean's arrival becomes a turning point for David, forcing him to take stock of his priorities in life. He obsesses about his career in art, assuming that Bean's accidental sabotage of his life will leave him begging for change on the street. But David is as (almost) much to blame for this pickle as Bean; he gets wise to Bean's unintended chicanery early enough, but doesn't toss the big-eared guy out on the street. He pities Mr. Bean--who has been already been invited to stay in Los Angeles by David et al--but David is also a control freak who refuses to admit that something has slipped through his grasp. (Take the scene where he sits his family down to "discuss" Bean staying with them; they call him out on his charade, knowing that the decision has already been made.) After David concludes that his plummeting life has reached terminal velocity, the movie waxes melodramatic, complete with a cover of The Beatles' "Yesterday"; this is, of course, subverted for comedy after he steps into the shower, somehow unaware that Bean was already in it. Yet Bean is not a complex character study, but a collection of madcap set pieces cobbled together. The ultimate insanity comes when Bean is somehow allowed to remain alone in the high-security room with "Whistler's Mother", which has been purchased by blowhard patriot, General Newton (Burt Reynolds). What follows is a perfect encapsulation of everything that makes Mr. Bean a comedy icon, as he proceeds to turn what a minor incident into a full-blown catastrophe--David's reaction to his desperate attempt to remedy the situation is priceless. Yet Bean displays uncharacteristic aptitude at concealing this disaster in Mission: Impossible fashion, much to the distress of an unfortunate security guard. Bean makes an ironic case for its eponymous "hero" as a "national treasure" in how the defaced painting is dealt with--after all, every trip should have a memorable souvenir.
Recommended for: Fans of a silly comedy about a goofy doofus who comes to America and brings his signature ineptitude and penchant for inadvertent destruction as carry-ons. The audience for Bean may find themselves shouting at the screen from all of the havoc Mr. Bean wreaks, aware that what begins as a faux pas can at any moment balloon into a hilarious disaster.