Bean is not the kind of film that is likely to be top of your viewing list, unless of course, you are an anglofile who cannot get enough of that physical comedy the pommies are renowned for delivering thick and fast. Bean, a character created and performed Rowan Atkinson is rather like a virus. Just sit him anywhere and watch him cause all manner of destruction. So what better place to "sit" him, than in the center of pretentiousness itself--Los Angeles. The film is British, inasmuch as Atkinson is a son of the "old country" as is director Mel Smith. Yet beyond the key positions of these two pinnacles of English humour and a nice cameo from Sir John Mills there is little else British about this flick. The film is sent mostly in L.A., where Bean represents a London art gallery by giving a lecture in honor of the purchase of Whistler's Mother.

        There are hysterical moments littered in the ninety minutes of Bean, but for the most part a quick look around the set up of each scene will usually give you the idea which bits will blow up, end up attached to Bean's anatomy or be otherwise anyalated. After you have set up the jokes in your mind it's a matter of waiting with anticipatory dread to see each joke reach its physical reality.

        But the total predictability about the whole piece is probablywhat makesit funny. Bean is clutz, and the film is 90 minutes of clutzery. Mercifully the 90 is relatively short, but probably could have been shorter, since the art gallery story folds within an hour. Then its seems the director and writer scratch their heads wondering what else to do with the inimitable Bean. Since he has been impersonality an art history ph.d. it seems only logical to carry on the Dr. theme and set him loose in a hospital.

        The hospital situations follow the pattern of the rest of the film; it's all very contrived, yet the paddle scene provided me with one of three or four spontaneous guffaws that I enjoyed in the whole film. Another really funny part is when Bean puts a turkey in a microwave and it blows up. The whole film isn't a lemon, there are a few great moments.

        And if you really dig you can probably find a more subtle inner life in Bean, like the jibes at the artsy crowd who readily swallow Bean's mumbo jumbo. But in general, what you see is what you get. Vomit jokes are the norm here. So if you've given Bean a wide berth thus far, you might pencil it in on your video list. Bean began his life on the small screen and that may be where he is best suited. Even better would be to see Bean on a plane en route to Britain to enhance your worry that the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow is manned solely by Beans.

        Home || Complete list of reviews