The theme of "Bean" is families. Therefore the goofball title character portrayed by Rowan Atkinson helps get an American family back together. This is set against the backdrop of an American art galley which has recently bought "Whistler's Mother" from a gallery in France. Bean, of course, becomes sort of a surrogate member of the American family as well. But it doesn't really matter what this is all about. It's just a chance for Atkinson to mug, ogle, hem-haw and do pratfalls for the camera. It gets pretty tiring pretty quickly.

"Mr. Bean" has been around for a while. Atkinson portrays him on a BBC series of shorts which is also played on PBS in America. There was also a short, where he meets the Queen Mother, shown with a film here in America in 1991, but I can't remember which film it came with. Regardless, "Bean" simply rehashes a lot of gags here from the TV show and doesn't do anything new for his legion of fans to enjoy. Those who already know of the series will surely be disappointed. Those who are new to the character may not even go see the film. If they do, they will be bored by the long humorless stretches and the phony TV quality of the film.

Much of the problem can be attributed to Mel Smith, the film's director. He also helped create the Bean character and has directed many of the TV shorts. Smith has worked on another film with Atkinson (and Jeff Goldblum) called "The Tall Guy" which is much funnier than this. Smith uses loud colors and modern abstract art throughout the film to give it a bright modern look. The only reason I can see for this is to contrast the main prop in the film, the painting "An Arrangement in Grey and Black" ("Whistler's Mother") with these loud "American" color-schemes. By the way, to give you an idea of the worthlessness of the script, no members of the art world who populate the film calls "Whistler's Mother" by it's true name. (Of course, it is also known to scholars as "Portrait of My Mother" but the film isn't really about art). Talking about all this would be over the viewers head, the Powers That Be seem to assume. And, of course, it would distract from Atkinson sticking a piece of toilet paper up his nose for a gag.

The film starts with a silly bit of plot which has the board at the gallery where Bean works as a security guard shuffling him off to America to get rid of him. When Bean gets to the states, he meets what is supposed to be a typical American family. Peter MacNicol, Pamela Reed, Tricia Vessey, and Andy Lawrence get to play these lousy roles. MacNicol doesn't get to do enough of his trademark neurosis. Instead he whine and stutters and generally annoys us. Reed has to play a disgruntled wife. She has no other character and no chance to explore this one, so we don't give a damn about her problems. Vessey is window dressing that is supposed to act as a cathartic object in the film's (anti-)climax. She does that okay I guess. Again we don't care about her. Lawrence looks fat. It's also weird when he gets up in the middle of the night, tells Bean he can't sleep because he can't stop thinking of naked women, and then invites the older man to go up to his room and look at pictures of Cindy Crawford with him. All in all, these are real schlubs as characters and the actors know it. They don't even try. Therefore, the plot of the film, or the sub plot, or the theme, or whatever the hell it's supposed to be, comes across as nothing but filler.

The biggest surprise and let down of the film is a speech given by Bean at a crucial moment in the film. It's played up prior to this as a joke because, of course, Bean speaks very little. He is supposed to give a 20 minute speech. What will happen? Well, Bean speaks. He gives about a 2 minute speech that is supposed to be "heartwarming" and "save the day." This character is best known for being able to convey all emotion with grunts, looks, and an occasional word or two. When he speaks here it's a letdown. We know the scripters (Richard Curtis, Robin Driscoll and Atkinson himself) simply could not come up with any way out of the corner they have painted themselves into; So, they cheat. They give "Bean" a two minute speech that lets him sum up the theme. How incredibly dull.

But "Bean's" worst problem sums up my disappointment with it. One of my favorite actresses of all time, June Brown, appears in the film. She used to play Dot Cotton on BBC-TV's "Eastenders." I was so looking forward to seeing her again. She is in the film 20 seconds and says one word - ONE lousy word. What a waste of talent. And that pretty much says all that needs to be said about "Bean." Maybe "What a waste of talent" is the theme after all.

Note:

Also with Burt Reynolds, in little more than a cameo; Johnny Galecki (TV's "Roseanne") in even less than a cameo (you wouldn't know it was him except for the credits); and Larry Drake ("Darkman").

Working title was "Doctor Bean."

The film uses the Beatles' "Yesterday" in the most typical of manners and it comes across as nothing more than pedestrian. There is a funny joke or two about Jon Bon Jovi. "I Love L.A." is performed by Randy Newman, the writer of the song, as well as OMC. Susanna Hoffs does a cover of Stealer's Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle."

Curtis acts as a Producer. Atkinson acts as Executive Producer. Music by Howard Goodall, who also does music for the TV series.

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