Review: Mr. Bean's Holiday

The first two acts of Mr. Bean’s Holiday are exactly what a non-fan of Rowan Atkinson’s famous character would expect: more of the same. Atkinson’s crazy, exaggerated Brit, Mr. Bean, takes to the screen here in exactly the same manner he did in the original Bean, getting himself into one series of misadventures after the next. This time around, Bean has won a trip by train to Cannes, France. On Bean’s excursion, one colossal misunderstanding leads to another, and he is falsely suspected of kidnapping a famous film director’s son. The premise proves funny enough, but those indifferent to the protagonist (like myself) won’t find themselves laughing out loud during the film’s first hour. The outrageous third act, however, is an absolute riot for all viewers. Pinning the ridiculous Bean into an outlandish confrontation with a self-indulgent auteur (played by Willem Dafoe) who is showing his latest self-important film at the Cannes Film Festival, the finale is hysterically pitch-perfect. Dafoe perfectly parodies melodramatic independent filmmakers in his role, and also plays brilliantly off of the famous mannerisms of Atkinson’s abstractly-constructed Bean. This wonderful segment doesn’t quite fully redeem the only occasionally-amusing first hour of Mr. Bean’s Holiday, but it comes mighty close. Whatever the picture’s flaws, it certainly ends with a bang, and deserves to be recommended for this.

-Danny Baldwin, Bucket Reviews

Review Published on: 8.28.2007

Screened on: 8.26.2007 at the UltraStar Del Mar Highlands 8 in Del Mar, CA.

Mr Bean's Holiday is rated G and runs 90 minutes.