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Bean the movie - One man. One masterpiece. One very big mistake. "Bean is wacky!&quot - Entertainment Weekly - DVD - Rowan Atkinson

Bean: The Movie (1997) starring Rowan Atkinson

Bean the Movie begins with an ordinary morning for Rowan Atkinson‘s clown character, Mr. Bean, who begins the day by shaving his face—as well as his forehead and his tongue. Mr. Bean is very much a visual clown, who relies on action rather than dialogue, and the movie gives him many opportunities to strut his comedic stuff. Next, late for work Mr. Bean accidentally breaks his coffee mug, so he makes his coffee without it—by swallowing a spoonful of instant coffee, sugar, cream, and drinking hot water straight from the coffee pot, only to have to mix the concoction by swirling it in his mouth. Once at work as a rather inept security guard at a British art museum, he promptly falls asleep—very gradually, in an inspired bit of physical comedy. The board of directors is meeting at the same time, with two items on their agenda: the firing of Mr. Bean, and sending an expert to America for the grand reception of the famous painting, Whistler’s Mother, which a rich American (played by Burt Reynolds) has purchased. The head of the board arrives late, and orders them to not fire Mr. Bean. Given that, the board decides to send Mr. Bean as the art museum’s representative—so that he will be somebody else’s problem for the next three months.

Mr. Bean is flying first class (and sticking his tongue out at the people flying coach), and generally annoying everyone possible. Mr. Bean repeats the “popping vomit bag” routine from his TV series before arriving in the United States of America, where he will be staying with the museum curator David Langley (played by Peter MacNicol). The curator initially takes any statement by Mr. Bean such as, “My job is to watch the paintings,” as the deep words of wisdom of a genius. His wife and children, however, are less enthralled, and leave him midway through the movie—at least temporarily. Before that happens, however, Mr. Bean is introduced to the other people at the art gallery, and David Langley is reminded that the representative from the British art gallery was his decision, and his job is hanging in the balance.

After Mrs. Langley can’t take any more of Mr. Bean and leaves with the children to her mother, guests drop in for a planned evening dinner, Mr. Bean tries to prepare a turkey dinner—after getting his head stuck inside the turkey and trying to microwave it, only to find out that microwaved turkey explodes.

Back at the art gallery, left alone with the famous Whistler’s Mother painting, Mr. Bean accidentally sneezes on the painting, and tries to wipe it off with his handkerchief. Unfortunately, his pen has ruptured and he’s now smeared blue ink on the face of Whistler’s Mother. Trying to repair the damage before he’s caught, Mr. Bean uses solvent to remove the ink, and succeeds—in removing the face of Whistler’s Mother from the painting. David Langley finds out, and hides the painting in it’s locked recess before the showing tomorrow—convinced that his career, and his life, have now been ruined. David and Mr. Bean go to a bar, and get drunk, returning to David’s home five hours later, only to find David’s wife waiting for them. Things seem to go even worse, until during a conversation with David’s son, Mr. Bean gets an idea on how to save the day.

Nothing is more dangerous than Mr. Bean with an idea, as the suffering security guard at the art gallery can attest to—I won’t give away the details, except to say that this is one of the funniest extended scenes in the movies. The next day, the unveiling actually goes well, surprisingly including Mr. Bean’s impromptu speech. As part of his speech, Mr. Bean talks about the importance of family, which is brought to a point by the news that David’s daughter has been rushed to the hospital after being in a motorcycle accident.

At the hospital, despite David’s request for him to do nothing, since if he does nothing he can’t get in trouble, “Dr. Bean” is mistaken for a surgeon, and accidentally saves a patient’s life. He later manages to wake David’s daughter from her coma. Both of these scenes are comedy gold, and well worth watching.

The family is repaired and reunited, and end with some vignettes with the family, and Mr. Bean flying back to the United Kingdom, and the special “souvenir’ that he’s brought back home with him. Bean the Movie has slow moments, but whenever Rowan Atkinson is on screen the laughs are steady and deep. I rate it 3 clowns out of 5.

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Editorial Review of Bean the Movie courtesy of Amazon.com

Translating Rowan Atkinson‘s Mr. Bean character from British television to the big screen takes a bit of a toll, but there are some hilarious sequences in this popular comedy. Bean, a boy-man twit with a knack for getting into difficult binds (and then making them worse and worse and worse), is a London museum guard who is sent to Los Angeles in the company of the famous painting Whistler’s Mother. He’s mistaken as an art expert by the well-meaning curator (Peter MacNicol) of an L.A. museum, but Bean’s famously eccentric behavior soon causes the poor guy to almost lose his family and job. The insularity of Bean’s TV world is sacrificed in this film, and that change diminishes some of the character’s appeal. But Atkinson is a man naturally full of comedy, and he doesn’t let his fans down. --Tom Keogh

Funny movie quotes from Bean the movie starring Rowan Atkinson

Lt. Brutus: Mr. Bean, are you presently on any kind of medication?
Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson): Not that I know of.
Lt. Brutus: You certainly could use some.

General Newton: I don’t know the difference between Picasso and a car crash.

David Langley: Why am I worried about this? You did it! All I gotta do is go tell ‘em what happened. But they’ll say, “Who left him alone with the picture?” And I’ll say, “Me”. And they’ll say, “You’re fired” and I’ll say, “Fine”. They’ll say, “No, no, no, firing’s not good enough. Let’s prosecute you for negligence”.

David Langley: I’ve given my life to art and from here on in, the only art I will get anywhere near are the pictures I draw on the pavement hoping passersby will throw nickels in my hat. I guess the long on the short of it: I wish I’d never been born.

David Langley: Come on, everybody, it’s gonna be great! Dr. Bean is a genius of the very highest order!
Lt. Brutus: He’s a genius, huh?
David Langley: That’s what they tell me.
Lt. Brutus: Well, he looks like a fruit cake to me.

David Langley: Doesn’t it take, like, five hours?
Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson): ...not… necessarily

David Langley: I must admit, over the time you’ve been here, certain… suspicions have begun to gather in my mind. I’m going to be frank here… are you a doctor?
Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson): ummm…
[shakes head]
David Langley: okay number two, do you know anything about art. I mean… let me see… was Leonardo Da Vinci a famous American basketball player? [sniggers]
[Bean looks confused, David’s face drops]Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson): ...yes
David Langley: ...I see [brings his hand up to his face]

Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson): [at the virtual rollercoaster ride talking to David] Brace yourself!

Kevin Langley: Hey, what’s wrong with Meat Loaf’s butt?

Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson): Hello, I’m Dr. Bean. Apparently. And my job is to sit and look at paintings. So, what have I learned that I can say about this painting? Well, firstly, it’s quite big, which is excellent. If it were very small, microscopic, then hardly anyone would be able to see it. Which would be a shame. Secondly, and I’m getting quite near the end of this… analysis, secondly, why was it worth this man spending fifty million of your American dollars? And the answer to that is, that it’s a picture of Whistler’s mother. And as I’ve learned, staying with my best friend David Langley and his family, families are very important. Even though Mr. Whistler was obviously aware that his mother was a hideous old bat who looked like she’d had a cactus lodged up her backside, he stuck with her, and even took the time to paint this amazing picture of her. And that’s marvellous. It’s not just a painting. It’s a picture of a mad old cow who he thought the world of. Well that’s what I think.

Kevin Langley: I can’t sleep. I can’e stop thinking about naked women. What about you?
Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson): Whistler’s Mother.
Kevin Langley: Well, whatever turns you on!

Trivia about Bean the Movie starring Rowan Atkinson

Various skits from the “Mr. Bean” (1990) TV show are featured in the movie, like: On an airplane, Mr. Bean blows up a barf bag full of barf and then pops it; a turkey gets stuck on his head; gets bored on a fast ride;
The soundtrack album for this film contains “(I Want To Be) Elected” by Alice Cooper, as sung by Bruce Dickinson. Rowan Atkinson appears in the song, making comments throughout as Mr. Bean, who is running for British prime-minister. His lines contain many references to Atkinson’s series “Blackadder the Third” (1987). For example, Vincent Hanna appears reading off the votes, like he did on the first episode of Blackadder III. Like in that episode, all the parties listed off “no votes” until Atkinson’s, who received all the votes (so Bean gets elected in the song). Also, Bean’s speech starts off “Unacustomed as I am to public speaking...” like Prince George’s did in the episode “Sense and Senility”.
This was the first movie ever to gross $100m before being released in the U.S.
The producers were initially looking for an unknown actor to play General Newton. But being a fan of the TV series, Burt Reynolds asked for a role and was then cast to appear as Newton.
Steve Martin, a self-confessed huge fan of Mr. Bean, wanted to play David Langley.

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About the Author

Tom Raymond, aka. Raynbow the Clown, is a professional clown working out of Madison, Wisconsin, and is available for ministry events, conventions and conferences.

Posted by Tom Raymond, aka Raynbow on 08/29 at 04:20 PM
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