Bean Review
by Michael Redman (redman AT bluemarble DOT net)November 25th, 1997
BEAN CAN STUFF IT UP HIS NOSE
Bean
A Film Review By Michael Redman
Copyright 1997 By Michael Redman
* (Out of ****)
British comic actor Rowan Atkinson is a hit in England with his weekly "Mr. Bean" television series and now his film hits the United States. Never before has there been such a vicious retaliation for the American Revolution.
Bean is a guard in London's National Art Gallery where he is despised by the board of directors but immune from dismissal. To get rid of him, they send the bumbling grunting mumbler to LA under the guise of an art expert to oversee the installation of "Whistler's Mother". (You'd think that with all the authorities in the film that someone would know that the title of the painting is the mouthful "Arrangement in Black and Gray: The Artist's Mother".)
That's about as much of a plot as we get. Bean is a combination of Pee Wee Herman and Jim Carrey with a little "Being There" tossed in. As bad as that sounds, it's even worse.
Most of the so-called comedy is based on making fun of the socially and possibly mentally inept. The result is cringing in embarrassment for what's on the screen rather than laughter.
The rest of the humor involves body orifices and what goes into and comes out of them. Bean stuffs a cigarette lighter up his nose and shoots peanuts from it. He leaves tissue hanging from it, sneezes on a painting and makes more noise with it than you want to hear. As a bonus we get urine, vomit and laxative jokes. Twelve-year-old boys will love it
Supposedly the movie is very popular in Europe. It's possible. After all there are those stories about Jerry Lewis and France.
[This appeared in the 11/26/97 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
