Mr. Bean's Holiday Review

August is considered by box office analysts to be the deadest month for films. It's the month where studios release the clunkers that are not expected to make a good profit and won't go over with audiences. Both usually tend to happen about 70% of the time. Mr. Bean's Holiday doesn't do anything that will make the month of August a better month for films and it just keeps the trend going of bad movies coming out in August.

Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is back and causing trouble in France. After winning a raffle which grants him a vacation to Cannes, he takes his trusty digital video camera to document his trip from beginning to end. When Bean asks for a man to record him boarding a train, that man misses his train as well as leaving his son (Max Baldry) on the train. Bean becomes a guardian to the boy, all the while travelling to Cannes to reuinte the son with his father.

It's been ten years since the last Bean film came out and perhaps the studio instead of waiting for so long to make a new one, shouldn't have made it in the first place. What doesn't work with this film is the obvious and its the same reason why almost all comedy skits don't translate well to film. To take a sketch that works great in 30 minutes and stretch it out to a feature length time will not work. That's specific with the genre of short skit comedy. Even though director Steven Bendelack has an extensive resume in television, he can't bring that many original physical and sight gags to this film. It gets tiring seeing Bean repeat himself over and over with the same childish gags.

The film does not work also, because of the change in character of Mr. Bean. Atkinson describes Bean as "a child in a grown man's body." In this movie however, he's just stupid at times. Not that he was incredibly intelligent in the original show it should be pointed out. His inteptness is quite irritating rather than comical and I almost feel sorry for him, but alas I do not.

Another aspect that really irked me about this film was the plot surrounding Mr. Bean becoming the guardian of this young boy. The boy is not an American but Russian. Perhaps Russians view strangers with different eyes than Americans. Regardless, I could not buy that this young boy took a liking so quick to Bean. Bean was the reason that this kid got separated from his father and I couldn't belive he would warm up to this fifty year old, six foot tall man so fast. I could be watching too much To Catch a Predator, but it's just really something that didn't do it for me.

The film has a few laughs but I will not give these away. I will say a good bucket of them comes courtesy of Willem Dafoe who plays a self-absorbed filmmaker whose having his latest fillm screened at Cannes. Look at the credits closely to that film and you'll see what I mean.

It's unfortunate that Bean has to go out with a bomb. What was a great character that reminded us of such classic physical comedians as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton has been relagated to a bumbling fool with little comedic value.

Final Grade: C-