Bean

How can anyone not LOVE this movie. It has to be the greatest comedy made in the 1990s. IT HAS TO BE. Rowan Atkinson is an incredible slapstick comedian. He is one of the great comedy performers of all time, ranking alongside Chaplin, Keaton, Fields, The Marxes, Tati, Brooks and Allen. This was a really popular movie when it was released in the Spring of 1997-and with good reason. If there could ONLY be more movies like this. I'm a big fan of Atkinson's TV shows MR BEAN, BLACKADDER and of course THE THIN BLUE LINE. Do yourself a favor and see this movie!

Despite only having fourteen episodes, "Mr. Bean" was a VERY successful TV series, developing a well-deserved reputation for its excellent visual humour! Two years after the show's demise, it was decided that it was time to bring Rowan Atkinson's character to the silver screen. The result was "Bean" (a.k.a. "Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie"), but unfortunately, this didn't turn out to be nearly as good as the classic TV series, and has disappointed many fans, including me.

Mr. Bean works as a caretaker for England's Royal National Gallery, and is one lousy employee (as one would probably assume), constantly sleeping on the job! Because of this, the board of directors plans to fire him, but the chairman will not permit this. The Grierson Gallery in Los Angeles has just purchased the famous "Whistler's Mother" painting, and curator David Langley has requested that the Royal National Gallery sends an art scholar to make a speech at the unveiling of the painting. Since the board of directors can't fire Bean, they see this as an opportunity to get him out of their lives, at least temporarily, so they send him, under the name, "Dr. Bean"! David Langley has no clue that Bean is not a doctor, nor is he even an art expert, and the painting could now be in danger because of him! Not only that, the presence of the Royal National Gallery's terrible employee may also threaten the future of poor David's job and family!

This movie's main problem is that it simply isn't nearly as consistently funny as the TV series. There are quite a few funny parts, I can't deny that, but I think most of them only made me smile or snicker, not enough big laughs, which there are a lot of in the show! Also, some gags from the show are repeated in this movie, and were done better the first time. These include Mr. Bean falling asleep while sitting down and gradually falling onto his knees and head (I guess that one is not as funny when nobody else is in the picture), and getting his head stuck in a turkey dinner (the main reason why it's not as funny this time is probably because the turkey isn't as big). Now, this movie did introduce some new and funny gags, but none of them can match some of the priceless ones in the show. None of the other characters really add much to the humour, and sadly, Mr. Bean cannot steadily carry it all by himself throughout the entire thing. Towards the end, I've found the film gets a bit tiring.

Overall, I would say "Bean" was not a bad first attempt to bring the world-renowned walking disaster to the silver screen, but hardly a good one, either, they certainly didn't completely pull it off. I am only one of many fans who have been disappointed by it to some degree. I certainly don't think it's something to watch for non-stop laughs over and over again, and that's pretty much how I would describe many of the short sketches, which I'm sure many would agree with. I think most fans of the show would at least find SOME laughs in this movie, but it seems that some fans hate it, so that's certainly not a guarantee.

I love the 'Mr Bean' TV series and the 'Ultimate Disaster' movie is just as entertaining. My main concern was the transition to the big screen and whether Bean would be as effective as a long movie, but it definitely does work and the transition is seamless.

Rowan Atkinson is a comedy genius and never fails to amuse, no matter how many times you've seen or watched Bean for. If there's one thing I preferred about the TV series over the movie, it would be that Bean hardly ever talks and relies a lot more on facial expressions and gestures. I prefer this Bean to the one we see in the movie, but he's still very funny.

This is without doubt one of my favourite comedy movies from one of my favourite comedy characters. I can't get enough of Bean.

Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is a London museum guard who is about to be fired by middle management. The big boss, however, won't hear of it; instead, he sends Mr. Bean to America. Once there, Mr. Bean is to pose as an art critic and give a rousing speech about Whistler's mother for a California art museum. Well, the museum director picks Mr. Bean up at the airport and pandemonium is the name of the game after that. Mr. Bean upsets the director's household, creates havoc at a local amusement park, blows up dinner and more. On top of that, he rarely speaks so everyone is certain he is an idiot. Can this man transform himself into an art critic and will he be able to present a speech on the museum's big day?

This movie is just flat-out fun. Although he has very little dialogue, Mr. Bean's expressions and antics are priceless. The supporting cast does a reasonably good job but Mr. Bean towers over everybody. This movie should be required viewing for anyone in a depressed state of mind; it can lift the spirits of even the saddest beings on earth. Recommended for a fine family evening of giggles and leg-slapping.

Although the storyline is quite different to the usual ones in the tv show, the movie still captures the clumsiness and total annoyingness of the character of Mr Bean. Rowan Atkinson is great and so are the other actors in the film. I really enjoyed this, probably more because it wasn't a disaster like the tv show usually is. In other words Bean didn't stuff up as much. there were some great scenes involving the painting and in the hospital. I recommend it to those comedy fans and for anybody who can withstand the lunatic behaviour of Mr Bean.