Bean (1997)

This one's bad, maybe unwatchable, as Rowan Atkinson's beloved Brit  
is shoehorned into a pedestrian, poorly executed plot involving a 
famous painting, a Los Angeles art gallery, and a classic case of 
mistaken identity.  (You Know Who is believed to be... an art ex-
pert.)  The "Bean bits"-- tampering with an amusement ride, pre-
tending to have a firearm in an airport, drying the front of his 
trousers with a restroom blow-dryer, etc.-- arrive at infrequent 
intervals and too often consist entirely of reaction shots.  In-
stead of just pointing the camera at Bean and letting him do his 
thing, the filmmakers shift the focus to the supporting stars and, 
by in large, that's a mistake.  (Okay, it *is* pretty funny when 
Peter MacNicol's art curator goes nuts, after Mr. Bean has his way 
with Whistler's Mother.)  Worse is how Bean's scenes always seem 
rushed.  He never gets to do more than three minutes of anything, 
if that.  Even his most-elaborate routine-- a nighttime, commando-
style raid on the museum-- flies by at about four times the pace 
that it should.  With Harris Yulin, Pamela Reed, and in a late and 
largely useless cameo, Burt Reynolds.  ("PG-13"/90 min.)

Grade: D

Copyright 1997 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros

Originally posted to triangle.movies in MOVIE HELL: November 9, 1997