Bean (also known as Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie or Bean: The Movie) is a 1997 comedy film based on the British television series Mr. Bean. Directed by Mel Smith and written by Robin Driscoll and Richard Curtis (both writers for the TV series), the film stars Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean, Peter MacNicol, Pamela Reed, Harris Yulin, Sandra Oh and Burt Reynolds. A standalone sequel, Mr. Bean's Holiday, was later released in 2007.
Plot[]
Mr. Bean is a destructively clumsy, yet well-meaning guard at the Royal National Gallery in London who always shows up to work late, constantly sleeps on the job, and has no manners. Because of this, the entire board wishes to fire him. When the gallery's chairman vetoes Bean's firing, the board decides to send him to a Los Angeles art gallery under false credentials instead, where he is ordered to present "Whistler's Mother". When Bean arrives, his chaos-causing ways are as sharp as ever and curator David Langley has the unenviable task of keeping Bean in line.
Why It's Great[]
- The film is faithful to the original series by reusing some of the sketches in the series as inspiration for the film's scenes, such as when Mr. Bean accidentally gets his head stuck in a turkey like in the episode "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean". In addition, several scenes in the film are based on elements from the TV series without being rehashes of them.
- It is really nice to see Mr. Bean head to the United States for a change.
- Same goes for him meeting and befriending an American suburban family for the first time.
- Much like the TV series, there are plenty of funny moments from start to finish, such as the scene where Bean ruins "Whistler's Mother" by accident after sneezing on it, David Langley freaking out upon realizing Bean ruined the painting (see below), Bean sneaking back into the gallery to replace the original "Whistler's Mother" with a poster, and so on.
- David Langley is a very entertaining and funny character like Bean himself, particularly in the famous scene where he freaks out over seeing that Bean ruined "Whistler's Mother".
- Howard Goodall's musical score is amazing much like in the original series.
- The idea of Bean ruining "Whistler's Mother" and replacing it with a poster is pretty original and funny.
- Much like the TV series, Rowan Atkinson's performance as the titular character is entertaining, as is Peter MacNicol as David Langley.
- Great soundtrack like "I Get Around" by the Beach Boys (which plays in the scene where Bean goes to a theme park), "I Love L.A." by Randy Newman (which plays in the final scenes) and "Picture of You" by Boyzone (which plays in the credits).
Bad Qualities[]
- The film features much more dialogue than in the TV series, which is against the Mr. Bean formula (though Mr. Bean does talk in the TV series, those were very few and far between).
- Besides that, the humor has also become a lot less family-friendly than in the TV series, which caused the film to obtain a PG-13 rating in order to appeal to an American audience. The ending scene where Bean gives the middle finger to everyone he passes by (including David's family) after mistaking it for a friendly greeting is an example of this.
- The film boils down to 90 minutes with some filler moments (with practically nothing happening in the film), with the simulation ride scene and the hospital operating room scene being examples.
- There was a scene that involved Bean driving his famous Mini through Harrods' department store; although it was filmed, it wasn't included in the final cut.
Reception[]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 41% based on 32 reviews with an average rating of 5.3/10.
Box Office[]
Despite receiving mixed reception, Bean was a box-office success, grossing $250 million worldwide against an $18 million budget.