Reply to Topic
Hadn't been to the theaters in a week and a half, so I went to see Mr. Bean's Holiday last night, even though I wasn't terribly excited about it. Here's my review, as always, also posted in the movie reviews area.
Mr. Bean's Holiday
A good deal of comedy is about the contrast between what we expect, and what actually takes place. Rowan Atkinson's "Mr. Bean" character is a textbook example of this principle. He's a grown man, but behaves like a child. He's slow, but has random moments of inspired brilliance. He's British, but has none of the British culture's typical dignity.
All of these characteristics are, of course, on full display in Mr. Bean's Holiday, in which the titular Bean wins a trip to Cannes, right around the time that famous film festival is going on.
Hard as it is to write a review of a comedy without divulging specific jokes, it's harder still to write a review of a comedy like this, which relies heavily on physical humor. What laughs there are either come from Bean's frantic flailings, or else sheer circumstance. Indeed, in a couple scenes Mr. Bean could easily be mistaken for Mr. Magoo.
The first half of the film is surprisingly weak, offering a laugh or two and a few scattered chuckles at most. One can't help but wonder just who thought some of these concepts were funny. Why would a small French child -- recently separated from his father in a train station, and quite distraught about it -- suddenly choose to imitate Bean's actions on a park bench? One would expect to suspend disbelief if it allows for something genuinely funny to take place, but several scenes here come off as genuinely pointless, even in Bean's world.
To the film's credit, however, it bucks the recent trend away from plot-driven humor. Almost all of the comedy here is integrated into an admittedly straightforward story, and in typical Bean fashion, it gets better as the plotlines start to come together. The second half is a good deal more amusing than the first, thanks in large part to a small part played by Willem Dafoe. Dafoe plays Carson Clay, a pretentious director screening a film at the festival which, from what we see, appears to be all voiceover. Self-involved filmmakers are always an easy target, and the film skewers them amusingly here.
There are a few running gags that work fairly well, such as Bean's compulsive need to play around with his video camera, and a series of mobile phone calls that allow the character to spread mayhem over an even greater distance than usual.
Still, even these ideas occasionally feel like filler, and a few sequences could be cut altogether. Though it's just 90 minutes, it's still about 20 minutes too long.
From a performance standpoint, Atkinson's energy and flexibility -- at the age of 52, no less -- is genuinely impressive. And if this is to be Bean's last appearance, as Atkinson has said, he does send him off with a fair amount of showmanship.
Though it stumbles out of the gate, Mr. Bean's Holiday ends strongly enough to reach mediocrity. It is not the grand sendoff that one would hope for what has at times been a very funny character, but it is modestly amusing show which exits the stage a good deal better than it entered it.
A good deal of comedy is about the contrast between what we expect, and what actually takes place. Rowan Atkinson's "Mr. Bean" character is a textbook example of this principle. He's a grown man, but behaves like a child. He's slow, but has random moments of inspired brilliance. He's British, but has none of the British culture's typical dignity.
All of these characteristics are, of course, on full display in Mr. Bean's Holiday, in which the titular Bean wins a trip to Cannes, right around the time that famous film festival is going on.
Hard as it is to write a review of a comedy without divulging specific jokes, it's harder still to write a review of a comedy like this, which relies heavily on physical humor. What laughs there are either come from Bean's frantic flailings, or else sheer circumstance. Indeed, in a couple scenes Mr. Bean could easily be mistaken for Mr. Magoo.
The first half of the film is surprisingly weak, offering a laugh or two and a few scattered chuckles at most. One can't help but wonder just who thought some of these concepts were funny. Why would a small French child -- recently separated from his father in a train station, and quite distraught about it -- suddenly choose to imitate Bean's actions on a park bench? One would expect to suspend disbelief if it allows for something genuinely funny to take place, but several scenes here come off as genuinely pointless, even in Bean's world.
To the film's credit, however, it bucks the recent trend away from plot-driven humor. Almost all of the comedy here is integrated into an admittedly straightforward story, and in typical Bean fashion, it gets better as the plotlines start to come together. The second half is a good deal more amusing than the first, thanks in large part to a small part played by Willem Dafoe. Dafoe plays Carson Clay, a pretentious director screening a film at the festival which, from what we see, appears to be all voiceover. Self-involved filmmakers are always an easy target, and the film skewers them amusingly here.
There are a few running gags that work fairly well, such as Bean's compulsive need to play around with his video camera, and a series of mobile phone calls that allow the character to spread mayhem over an even greater distance than usual.
Still, even these ideas occasionally feel like filler, and a few sequences could be cut altogether. Though it's just 90 minutes, it's still about 20 minutes too long.
From a performance standpoint, Atkinson's energy and flexibility -- at the age of 52, no less -- is genuinely impressive. And if this is to be Bean's last appearance, as Atkinson has said, he does send him off with a fair amount of showmanship.
Though it stumbles out of the gate, Mr. Bean's Holiday ends strongly enough to reach mediocrity. It is not the grand sendoff that one would hope for what has at times been a very funny character, but it is modestly amusing show which exits the stage a good deal better than it entered it.
Last edited by Yoda; 03-05-08 at 01:17 PM.
