Rowan Atkinson is a comic genius. I can remember him in the experimental comedy series Not The Nine O’ Clock News in 1979, along with other great comedians – Mel Smith, Griff Rhys-Jones and Billy Connolly. (Oh, and Pamela Stephenson was in it too.)
Since then, he has appeared in many of my favourite films and TV programmes – The Lion King (as the voice of Zazu), Bean, The Thin Blue Line, the wonderful Blackadder series, as the vicar in the hilarious Four Weddings And A Funeral, and not forgetting as the Ninth Doctor in the 1999 Comic Relief Dr. Who special!
With a name like Rowan Sebastian Atkinson, perhaps a career making people laugh was inevitable? Or maybe it was his decision to take a degree in Engineering at Oxford that made him so incredibly entertaining? Whatever it was, he was destined for the limelight – albeit being terribly shy and a private person, as many of the best comedians often are.
He celebrated his 46th birthday in January, has been married to Sunetra since 1990 and they have a son and a daughter. Much more than that is hard to discover. But who needs to know his inside leg measurement, after all? His talent is there for everyone to see.
In 1997, the big-screen version of the Bean TV series was released. Directed by Mel Smith, written by Robin Driscoll (who co-wrote the TV version) and Richard Curtis, how could
it fail to be brilliant? After all, looking through Curtis’ credits, I see he has been responsible for about 80% of what I have laughed at over the past twenty years or so – Blackadder, The Vicar of Dibley, Four Weddings, even my all-time favourite film – Notting Hill.
However, some people were disappointed by the Bean movie, believing it to be inferior to the television series and suggesting extending the character into one interesting enough for a 100-minute movie did not work. Still, I’ve never been one to pay much attention to the critics. I loved it.
I first watched it on video last year, when my Dad came to stay. We have a very similar sense of humour and both thought we’d like to watch Bean – The Movie, and we did. When it was on ITV recently, I was pleased to be able to watch it again and enjoyed it just as much.
The basic story is that Bean is working as a caretaker at an art gallery in London, although making a hopeless mess of it, as you’d expect. When someone is required to travel to the USA to escort the famous (and hugely expensive) painting called Whistler’s Mother, Bean is chosen – basically to get him out of the way for a while.
However, when he arrives in America, he is revered as ‘Dr.’ Bean, a supposedly brilliant mind, and famous art expert. Being a man of few words and little intelligence, he goes along with it, enjoying his newly found star status, until he discovers there are drawbacks to the role. For starters, he has to make a speech about the painting, which is difficult when he’s not even sure who Leonardo Da Vinci was!
The painting of Whistler’s Mother is of an old, rather ugly, woman sat in a chair. But you just know, with Bean’s luck, that something is going to happen to that extremely expensive artwork – and of course, it does, but it’s not up to me to reveal what. Let’s just say, he gets into some wonderfully funny capers, which are just as inventive as in the television series.
When Bean is staying in America, he lives with the curator of the art gallery which is going to be the new home of the famous painting. This is the poor bloke responsible for the welfare of Bean and, more importantly, those caught in the after-shocks! David Langley is played beautifully by Peter MacNicol (Chicago Hope, Ally McBeal). He strikes just the right balance between hating Bean for what he does, but somehow rather liking him – which is just how we feel too.
Under threat of losing his job, his wife leaving him and possibly even a prison sentence, David aids and abets Bean, hoping to solve the problem they have to face – or is it the problem of the face they have to solve? But if all else fails, they can always get drunk and wake up the neighbours by singing loudly.
The humour of the film borders on slapstick at times, but is often much more subtle. Bean himself seems somewhat toned down for the film version, but this was presumably for the American market, as the character in the TV series is very British, I would say and some of the humour might not travel well. Still, look how popular Monty Python is over there, so maybe not.
Rowan Atkinson’s very physical performance is always outstanding. He manages to contort his face impressively, without resorting to Jim Carrey-esque gurns and his lanky body appears to glide along floors and wiggle round corners like a piece of string, when required.
The film, in my opinion, is brilliant. It’s great to cheer you up (if you haven’t earned much from Ciao’s Premium Fund, for example), and it’s wonderful for making you feel life really isn’t as bad as it could be. For all the times you trip over, come out with a tactless comment or wish the ground would swallow you up, you can bet that Bean will have already been there, done that and bought the plastic dog poo.
According to the TV Times (24.2 – 2.3.01), Rowan Atkinson says “I can’t perform at parties and I hate telling jokes. I never stop asking myself if what I’m doing with my life is right.” Well, Rowan, believe me, you’re doing great! A top class British comedy star, without equal.
(Stats courtesy of www.imdb.com)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
this is such a funny film, my 8 year old has it and watched it over and over again!
carolinesite 05.03.2001 20:54
Good op - you know, I didn't even know he was married, let alone had kids. I knew he wasn't queer, just thought he was a recluse.
EnglishPatient 05.03.2001 20:29
I was one of those disappointed with the film. It seemed to suffer from its desire to appeal to the American market, a point proved by the outtakes included on the video - which should have been left in. As has already been said, Blackadder was a superior creation in all respects, but this is still an excellent review. He also made a wonderful Dr Who, didn't he? Have to agree with you on that.
Mar 4th, 2001
very helpful by (94%):
helpful by (6%):
