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Bean (film)

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Bean – The Ultimate Disaster Movie
Bean film poster
Directed byMel Smith
Written byRichard Curtis
Robin Driscoll
Rowan Atkinson
Produced byPeter Bennet-Jones
Tim Bevan
Richard Curtis
Eric Fellner
Rebecca O'Brien
StarringRowan Atkinson
Peter MacNicol
Burt Reynolds
Pamela Reed
Richard Gant
Andrew Lawrence
CinematographyFrancis Kenny
Edited byChristopher Blunden
Music byHoward Goodall
Production
companies
Distributed byGramercy Pictures
Release dates
Australia
3 July 1997
United Kingdom
1 August 1997
United States
17 October 1997
(limited)
7 November 1997
(wide)
Running time
90 min.
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Budget$18 million

Bean, also known as Bean – The Ultimate Disaster Movie is a 1997 feature film based on the television series Mr. Bean. It stars Rowan Atkinson in the title role and Peter MacNicol. It was directed by Mel Smith, with whom Atkinson had previously worked on Not the Nine O'Clock News. The film re-used many of the ideas from the original television series, although it was set mainly in California. The tagline is Be afraid. Be very afraid. Mr. Bean has a passport.

Plot

Mr. Bean, a hopeless guard at the "Royal National Gallery", London, is sent by his employers, who wish to get rid of him, to America under "Dr. Bean" to oversee the transfer of Whistler's Mother to a Los Angeles art gallery. His visit has been engineered by Los Angeles curator David Langley (Peter MacNicol), who, impressed by the National Gallery's fabricated praise of Bean, decides to board him into his home. Bean arrives, following police detainment at the airport due to his absurd antics. He wins the affection of David's son Kevin (Andrew Lawrence), but perturbs wife Alison (Pamela Reed) and daughter Jennifer (Tricia Vessey).

Bean's unorthodox arrival at the gallery worries David's colleagues, particularly his boss George Grierson (Harris Yulin), who sublty warns David that he will be held responsible for Bean's actions at the unveiling of the painting, but David promises he can handle Bean. Upon his return home with Bean, Alison departs for her mother's home with the kids, unwilling to live with Bean. With his family gone, David decides to take Bean on a tour of the Los Angeles art galleries. However, Bean decides that he would rather go to Pacific Park. He lands in police detainment once again following mischief on a motion simulator ride in which he speeds it up. This prompts Lieutenant Brutus (Richard Gant), who dealt with Bean at the airport, to swear David to accountability for Bean, threatening to arrest Bean if he ever steps out of line again.

Following a miserable dinner with Grierson and his wife in which Bean blows up the microwave after placing a turkey in it, which David had forgotten about the meal, he finally realises that Bean is not a doctor and knows nothing about art. Whistler's Mother arrives at the gallery next morning. Bean is given a few minutes alone to study it, in an effort to keep him out of trouble. However, whilst dusting the frame, Bean sneezes on the painting and wipes it with a handkerchief, not knowing that it is covered in blue ink, and therefore the painting is stained. Terrified, Bean takes it to the caretaker's cupboard to get some agent by which to remove the ink. He uses lacquer thinner, which also dissolves the painted face from the painting. Bean attempts to patch it up with an extremely unconvincing cartoon face. Upon seeing it, David is horrified and hides the painting in the metallic frame. Fearing he will lose his job and possibly face criminal proceedings for the vandalism, he and Bean drink at a bar for several hours.

During the night, Bean hatches a plan to restore the painting. He gathers a few items from the house and makes his way to the gallery. He distracts the only security guard on duty by putting laxative in his coffee and exchanges the painting for a poster version of itself. At the unveiling the next day, David is overjoyed to find the painting restored while Bean gives a brief but effective speech regarding the work. The speech is another high point for the movie. David expects Bean to take the podium at the press conference and make a fool of himself on National TV, however, the words flowing from his mouth are both very simple and very, very deep, cementing the public's perception of him as a scholarly virtuoso.

After the unveiling, Lieutenant Brutus finds David and informs him that his daughter, Jennifer, has been involved in a motorcycle accident, because she rebelled against her father for not getting rid of Bean, and is in intensive care. David is given a police escort to the hospital, although Brutus stops on the way to deal with an armed robber, who shoots Brutus in the stomach before being arrested.

Whistler's Mother

Due to a mix-up at the hospital, Bean is mistaken for a medical doctor and pushed into an operating theatre containing Brutus, who is still alive but only barely. While the other doctors and nurses are distracted, Bean unconventionally retrieves the bullet and saves him. Bean is again mistaken for a doctor, this time by David who pulls him in to see Jennifer, who is unconscious. Bean is unsure what to do and starts playing about with a defibrillator, managing to electrocute himself and revive Jennifer in the process. Still not recognising him as Bean, David and Alison stop him and tell him that they will offer him anything. Bean reveals himself and then asks if he can stay with them for another week. Though baffled, the Langleys gladly accept.

After another week in Los Angeles with the Langleys, in which he gives the family gifts, learns the middle finger (but believes it to be the same as the thumbs up) and explores the city, Bean goes home, accompanied by the original Whistler's Mother, which he had stowed away in his suitcase to hide it from Mr. Grierson.

Reception

The film was criticised for breaking with the program's tradition of having Mr. Bean as the centre of weird attention and for the alleged Americanisation required to sell it overseas (Bean also speaks intelligibly, albeit with apparent difficulty, as opposed to his frequent mumbling in the TV show).[1] However, the movie grossed over USD$250 million globally on a budget estimated at $22 million.[2] It was followed by a sequel in 2007 called Mr. Bean's Holiday.[3] The film currently has a 41% "rotten" rating amongst collated reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, with many critics suggesting that it was over-long and lacking in jokes.[4]

Rating

The film was rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for moments of risqué humour. In the UK and Australia, the movie was classified PG for "Adult Themes".

When the movie was broadcast on NBC in 2000, the "middle finger" scene was replaced with a scene where Bean orders a hot dog with "everything" on it. As David is about to take a picture of him eating the hot dog, Bean pauses for a few seconds, then, looks at what's been put in the hot dog, then smells it, and then recoils with a look of nausea on his face.

The UK Pal Home Video release contains 21 minutes of footage not seen at the cinemas.

The US NTSC Home Video release has a sticker on the cover that says Bonus 17 minutes of footage.

Soundtrack

The film's original score was by Howard Goodall, who had also written the music for the television series, although the original Mr. Bean theme was not used. Other non-original songs were also featured, in particular The Beatles' "Yesterday" (sung by Wet Wet Wet).

The CD soundtrack also featured a song not used in the film, a cover of the Alice Cooper song "Elected" (from the Billion Dollar Babies album) performed by famed Iron Maiden lead singer and Heavy metal icon Bruce Dickinson which features sound dubs of Mr. Bean making campaign promises. This had been used for Comic Relief in 1992.

Boyzone also released a song for the film, entitled "Picture of You".

List of songs performed by various artists

  1. I Love L.A. – Randy Newman
  2. Picture Of You – Boyzone
  3. I Get Around – The Beach Boys
  4. Walking On Sunshine – Katrina And The Waves
  5. Yesterday – Wet Wet Wet
  6. Running Back For More – Louise
  7. That Kinda Guy – Thomas Jules-Stock
  8. Give Me A Little More Time – Gabrielle
  9. He's A Rebel – Alisha's Attic
  10. Stuck In The Middle With You – Susanna Hoffs
  11. Art For Art's Sake – 10cc
  12. Have Fun, Go Mad – Blair
  13. Can We Talk (Pure Radio Mix) – Code Red
  14. Bean Theme (Mad Pianos) – Howard Goodall
  15. Elected – Mr. Bean And The Smear Campaign featuring Bruce Dickinson

Merchandise

Lots of merchandise was released during the release of the film – here are some examples:

  • Mr. Bean's Scrapbook, All About Me In America
  • Bean: The Script Book
  • Mr. Bean Trading Card Set

And a number of versions of the Mr. Bean Teddy.

References

  1. ^ Review at Allmovie by Karl Williams, URL accessed July 29, 2006
  2. ^ Box office figures at boxofficemojo.com, URL accessed July 29th, 2006
  3. ^ Bean 2 at the official Mr. Bean site, URL accessed July 29th, 2006
  4. ^ Bean at Rotten Tomatoes
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