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Review: 'Bean' makes you forget Jim Carrey
From Reviewer Paul Tatara
November 8, 1997
Web posted at: 5:48 p.m. EST (2248 GMT)Aside from their willingness to serve (and eat) eel in thriving restaurants, people in England have always projected a steadfastly conventional, sensible image. And that's exactly why you have to tread lightly when approaching their comedy.
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Since one of the cornerstones of comic writing is the simultaneous display of contradictory impulses, it only makes sense that the land of the stiff upper lip would have a pretty wigged-out sense of humor. Think about John Cleese's legs flying every-which-way while exiting the Ministry of Silly Walks.
To put it bluntly, British people can excel at acting like idiots. Which leads us to Rowan Atkinson's new movie, "Bean."
"Bean" became one of the biggest hits in British film history this past summer when people started lining up in droves to see Atkinson (as the bumbling, near-silent Mr. Bean character) do things like shave his entire face and tongue with an electric razor and get an un-cooked Thanksgiving turkey stuck on his head. You can make what you will of the film's unrivaled popularity, but one thing is for certain. Director David Lean sure as hell went to a lot of unnecessary trouble filming "Lawrence of Arabia."
As you may expect if you're familiar with the BBC TV show that the film is based on, "Bean" is basically a series of blackout sketches in which a man who seems to be the world's oldest, most selfish 8-year-old demolishes things, tries to correct the problem, and winds up demolishing them even further. The very thin "plot" from which these moments of demolition are suspended consists of Bean, a watchman at a London museum, being shipped off to America for three months.
Watch a portion of the trailer 629K/16 sec./160x120
QuickTime movieHis superiors at the museum (everyone in the movie, even children, is his superior) decide to take a break from his idiocy by pretending that he's one of the world's foremost art experts. His assignment is to accompany Whistler's Mother to Los Angeles, where the painting (which has been purchased by an evidently wealthy Army general, played by Burt Reynolds, of all people) will be unveiled at a highly publicized ceremony. He's also expected to give a speech about the painting, even though he utters no more than 12 words for the first 80 minutes of the movie. He does, however, get confused and grunt a lot.
When Bean gets to L.A., David Langley, the man entrusted with acquiring the painting for the museum (played with a surprising amount of comic gumption by Peter MacNicol), volunteers to let Bean stay at his house. His family isn't so keen on this, but he brings the guest in anyway, and Bean's shenanigans soon drive everyone but David from the home. This happens for the very good reason that something resembling a story has to take place. Pamela Reed, a great, under-appreciated actress (check her out as Trudy Cooper in "The Right Stuff") plays the (house)wife, but the role could just as easily have been filled by the woman who played Aunt Bea.
Though it eventually wears out its welcome, I laughed hard several times during the movie, and I think it's important to note exactly why. I'm sure that a lot of common-denominator types out there are going to start comparing Atkinson's performance to Jim Carrey's histrionics as "Ace Ventura," but what we're talking about here is the difference between a bottle of Chateauneuf-Du-Pape and a pint of Thunderbird.
Atkinson, like the great silent comedians, knows how to pry his humor from his relationships with the scene's surrounding props. No matter how ridiculous it is, there's a perverse logic to him winding up trapped in that turkey when he tries to stuff it, as opposed to Carrey randomly kneeling down and slamming a toilet seat on his head because it's supposed to be "funny."
Many of Atkinson's routines are also intricately developed enough that I would have a great deal of trouble conveying their precision on the written page. (Carrey's stuff can be fully explained in curt, Hemingway-like sentences.) Throw in Atkinson's ability to pull off subtle gags in long-shot that Carrey would deliver in close-up with a sledgehammer and a bullhorn, and the heavyweight crown now resides in London.
Children will certainly get a more consistent kick out "Bean" than you will, but things move along quickly enough (until the final 10 minutes or so, anyway), that you'll be able to enjoy it with them. You'll probably laugh out loud four or five times, then tell everyone you know how stupid it was. Don't forget to point out, however, the grace with which that stupidity was delivered.
"Bean" is just fine for all ages. Atkinson hardly speaks, let alone curses. There's one indescribable joke in which Bean appears to be fornicating with a men's room hot-air hand-dryer, and I'm not making this up. Children probably won't understand that one, but you'll be on the floor. Rated PG-13. 92 minutes.
Related stories:
- He's been 'Bean' the world over - November 7, 1997
- Film festival is a laughing matter - October 24, 1997
- Home Video Preview - March 3-01, 1996
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