Mr. Bean's Holiday

Review by Guy Davis

The notion that Rowan Atkinson’s odd little comic creation Mr Bean is perhaps better suited to four-minute skits than a feature-length film is reinforced by the fact that I can’t remember a damn thing about the character’s last cinematic outing other than it exists.

If Atkinson pulled off any champagne comedy during the course of that movie, it’s completely slipped my mind in the decade or so since Bean hit the screen.

Still, Atkinson has slipped on the character’s clothes for the first time in 10 years and given his facial muscles a solid workout in the follow-up, Mr Bean’s Holiday.

Now maybe I’ll eventually forget all about this big-screen Bean as well, but somehow I doubt it: this is vigorously funny stuff that expertly showcases Atkinson’s gift for physical comedy within a framework that’s flexible enough to give the performers room to move but sturdy enough to offer a satisfying storyline (such as it is).

The gist of it is, Mr Bean wins a trip to the French Riviera and experiences all manner of misadventures as he attempts to make his way to the golden sands at Cannes.

Along the way, he picks up a couple of travelling companions - lost kid Max Baldry and cute ingenue Emma De Caunes - and unintentionally wreaks a bit of havoc before crashing the film-festival premiere of an interminable arthouse snooze-fest directed by Willem Dafoe (hilarious as a self-enchanted, Vincent Gallo-style wanker).

It’s featherweight stuff, of course, but director Steve Bendelack knows just how to present Bean’s antics while maintaining a sweet and semi-sophisticated tone (he’s also made one of the most beautifully-shot comedies in recent years - this movie is gorgeous to look at).

And Atkinson’s comic style, as agile and limber as a pre-teen Russian gymnast, is a wonder to behold. Best of all, he’s found the right way to harness it for the movies this time around.

4 out of 5

Mr. Bean's Holiday
Australian release: 29th March, 2007
Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Willem Dafoe, Emma De Caunes, Jean Rochefort
Director: Steve Bendelack
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