Bean (1997 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bean | |
|---|---|
 Bean film poster |
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| Directed by | Mel Smith |
| Produced by | Rowan Atkinson Peter Bennet-Jones Tim Bevan Richard Curtis Eric Fellner Rebecca O'Brien |
| Written by | Rowan Atkinson Richard Curtis Robin Driscoll |
| Starring | Rowan Atkinson, Peter MacNicol, Burt Reynolds, Pamela Reed, Richard Gant |
| Music by | Howard Goodall |
| Cinematography | Francis Kenny |
| Distributed by | Polygram Gramercy Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 7 November 1997 (USA) |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | Mr. Bean's Holiday |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Bean, also known as Mr. Bean: The Movie or 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 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 was set mainly in California.
Taglines
- One Man. One Masterpiece. One Very Big Mistake.
- The Ultimate Disaster Movie.
- Everything You've Heard Is True.
- Be afraid, be very afraid, Mr. Bean has a passport.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Mr. Bean, a hopeless caretaker at the "Royal National Gallery", London is sent by his employers, who wish to get rid of him (for sleeping on the job), to America under the pseudonym of "Dr. Bean" to oversee the transfer of Whistler's Mother to a Los Angeles art gallery. Whilst on the plane, Bean entertains an air-sick boy, although unfortunately uses the wrong bag (a more graphic version of a joke used in Mr. Bean Rides Again). Once at the airport, he is surprised to see policemen with guns and pretends he himself has one, which leads to him being swiftly arrested. He meets Lieutenant Brutus, who suspects he is on medication.
Once released, he meets David Langley, an employee of the Grierson art gallery and his family, with whom he is to stay for his visit. They are not impressed with the "expert", although Mr. Bean immediately wins the affection of David's son (played by Andrew Lawrence) by being able to wiggle his ears and throw jelly babies in the air and catch them in his mouth. However, David's wife is hostile about having to look after him and his rebellious teenage daughter finds him "ugly as Meat Loaf's butt". His wife later leaves after Bean breaks a family heirloom while fiddling with a CD player which in turn, results in Bean destroying a crystal statuette.
In his wife's absence, David decides to take Bean on a tour of the Los Angeles art galleries. However, Bean decides that he would rather go to a fair. Here, Bean and David go on a motion simulator ride. Bean is bored by the ride and decides to make it more exciting by changing the circuits to "full power". After the ride, he is swiftly arrested again, and Brutus questions David if Bean really is a genius.
Back at home, David is unexpectedly visited by George Grierson, the boss of the gallery. David had forgotten about the visit and with his wife gone, he is left to cook. Mr. Bean claims he can cook a turkey for 20 minutes in the microwave and is left to prepare their meal. However, Bean's attempt fails and the microwave explodes, spraying turkey all over the kitchen. Afterwards, David questions Bean with some simple questions about art and finds out that he is not a doctor after all.
Once the painting arrives at the gallery, Bean is given a few minutes alone to study it for his grand "speech" at the official revealing ceremony. However, whilst dusting the frame, Bean sneezes on the painting and wipes it with a handkerchief, not knowing it is covered in blue ink. Terrified, Bean takes it to the caretaker's cupboard to get something to remove the ink with. Unfortunately, he uses paint stripper, which also removes the painted face from the actual painting. Bean attempts to patch it up with an extremely unconvincing cartoon face. On seeing it, David Langley is horrified and decides they should go out drinking (after they hide it back in its metal safe). Fearing he will lose his job and possibly face criminal proceedings, David drowns his sorrows with alcohol and Bean becomes drunk for the first time.
During the night, shortly after David's son mentions that he has some "great posters of Cindy Crawford" in his room, Mr. Bean hatches a plan to sort the painting out. He gathers a few items from the house: eggs, nail polish, a small brush, a hair dryer, an egg beater, a pizza slicer, a rather large pair of briefs, some chewing gum, a torch, and some laxative. He sneaks from the house and quietly makes his way to the gallery. He distracts the only security guard on duty and pours the entire bottle of laxative into his coffee, making the guard very ill. The guard rushes to the bathroom but is kept busy after Bean switched some of the keys for the various parts of the gallery. Bean enters the room where the painting is kept, swapping it for one of the lifesize posters of the painting, gluing it down with the the chewing gum and covers it with a texture made of egg white and nail polish to make it look aged. This works very well, and at the unveiling the next day, David is shocked to find the painting restored. Bean, who has forgotten to prepare anything, is left to make an unconventional, but well-received speech about the painting's significance.
After the unveiling, Lieutenant Brutus finds David (who initially imagines that he has discovered the truth) and informs him that his daughter, Jennifer, has been involved in a motorcycle accident and is in intensive care. David is given a police escort to the hospital, although Brutus has to stop on the way after seeing a man with a gun.
At the hospital, Bean is told to stay in the waiting room while David leaves to see his unconscious daughter. Meanwhile, a doctor passing Mr. Bean drops his stethoscope. Bean follows him into a restricted corridor to return the instrument but is mistaken for a doctor (as he is still wearing his "Dr Bean" nametag from the gallery) and dressed for the operating theatre. He is quite shocked to be pushed into the theatre, only to see Brutus, who has been shot. While the other doctors and nurses are distracted to another theatre, Bean is left in charge of Brutus and accidentally drops an M&M into his wound. Bean rummages around and finds the bullet (which he quickly puts back) and then his M&M (which he drops into steriliser and eats). Once the other surgeons return, Brutus is in even worse shape. Now realising the bullet is the problem, Bean calmly reaches inside him (with his hand) and retrieves the bullet, saving Brutus. He is then congratulated by the other doctors.
After leaving the theatre Bean is again mistaken for a doctor, this time by David who sees him in the surgeon's outfit and pulls him in to see Jennifer, who is unconscious. Bean is unsure what to do and is unable to help, thus gets distracted and starts playing about with a defibrillator. He accidentally puts the two resuscitation electrodes together and is sent flying across the room, landing on Jennifer and bringing her back to consciousness. David and his wife rush into the room, and Bean tries to slip away quietly. Still not recognising him as Bean, they stop him and tell him that they will offer him anything. Bean then pulls down his facemask and asks if he can stay another week.
After another week in Los Angeles with the Langleys, Bean goes home. At the end of the movie, Bean is back in his London flat, and is shown to have taken the original Whistler's Mother home with him, still having the cartoon face he drew on it. He has hung it in his bedroom.
The credits close with Mr. Bean walking into the viewing area and breaking the fourth wall: "Yes, I normally stay to the end as well...bye.". He walks off, but comes back again: "You can go now — if you wish. Bye!". He comes back a third time, but just passes through the screen without saying anything, looking at the audience rather awkwardly.
[edit] Response
The film was criticised for breaking with the programme's tradition of having Mr. Bean as the centre of attention and for the alleged Americanisation required to sell it overseas.[1] However, the movie grossed over USD$230 million globally[2] on a budget estimated at $22 million and was followed by a sequel in 2007 called Mr. Bean's Holiday.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Review at the All Movie Guide by Karl Williams, URL accessed July 29, 2006
- ^ Box office figures at boxofficemojo.com, URL accessed July 29th, 2006
- ^ Bean 2 at the official Mr. Bean site, URL accessed July 29th, 2006]
[edit] External links
- Bean at the Internet Movie Database
- Bean at All Movie Guide
- BBC review
| Mr. Bean |
|---|
| Writers/Performers |
| Rowan Atkinson | Richard Curtis | Robin Driscoll | Ben Elton |
| Episode / Film |
| List of Mr. Bean episodes | Animated series | Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie | Mr. Bean's Holiday |
| Miscellaneous |
| Howard Goodall | Matilda Ziegler | John Howard Davies | Mel Smith | Steve Bendelack |
