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Mr.
Bean's Holiday
(originally
posted by Jamie Kelwick at his own site -- www.the-usher.com.)
Rowan
Atkinson returns to one of the two characters that made
him a star of comedy, but unfortunately it isn't Edmund
Blackadder.
Ten
years after Atkinson's bumbling but lovable creation hit
the silver screen in Bean for the ultimate disaster
movie, Mr. Bean returns and this time he is going on holiday.
Winning the local church raffle, he receives an all-expenses
paid trip to Cannes in the South of France but of course,
everything doesn't go to plan.
When
Atkinson and Richard Curtis created the character back in
1990 little did they know that this virtually silent, awkward
klutz would become a firm family favourite with a live action
and animated series. Now he has his second feature film
but is this a character that really needs to return to the
silver screen?
Waiting
ten years since his last appearance is an extremely long
time for fans of the hapless character. Based on the style
of the silent comic masters such as Buster Keaton, Charlie
Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, Mr. Bean is all about physical
and expressional comedy at which Atkinson is extremely gifted.
The problem is that the Mr. Bean character is one that you
will either love or hate.
Watching
him travel across France on this way to his dream holiday
in Cannes should have been a journey made for some hilarious
moments. Unfortunately, Mr. Bean's Holiday only
barely manages to raise a smile. Missing trains, losing
things, walking onto film sets and becoming wanted by the
police are just some of the hijinx that the hapless one
gets into, but these set pieces are very simplistic and
not that funny.
There
is no denying that Atkinson is an extremely talented comedic
actor and Mr. Bean is a creation that shows his skills in
physical comedy, but this is definitely not his best character.
You have to wonder why this character gets a second movie
when a Blackadder movie is crying out to be made.
The
rest of the cast are fine, with the beautiful Emma de Caunes
and Max Baldry as the lost Stephan doing a decent job but
you have to question why Willem Defoe is in the movie as
self obsessed director Carson Clay.
Mr.
Bean's Holiday is a movie that only fans will enjoy.
With very few laugh out loud moments and the strange inclusion
of quite a lot of subtitles (for a movie aimed at younger
viewers), this is a disappointing comedy that really didn't
need to be made. Let's hope Mr. Bean stays in France for
a very long time.
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