Mr. Bean's Holiday (Widescreen)

The Dick Van Dyke Show. The Lucy Show. The Odd Couple.

What on earth do these wonderful old T.V. shows have to do with Mr. Bean's Holiday?

Well, not a whole lot thematically, but there is one very significant tie between them. The classic shows mentioned above were not children's programs. They were prime-time comedy series aimed at adults. They were clean as a whistle for the most part, as shows then tended to be, but the subjects of the shows revolved around divorce, marital troubles, problems at the office etc.

Unfortunately, modern entertainment equates "adult" with sex and violence. In other words, the word adult has been appropriated. Nothing could possibly be funny, clever, inventive or exciting if there isn't at least some sex or controversy right? It's a pretty sad state when "adult" has come to mean "15 year-old boy" :/

Now before you roll your eyes, I am as far from being a prude as you can get. I own and admire scores of R-rated films, and listen to music that would make most "hipsters" hair curl with shock and disgust. But there was a time when writers actually had to be clever to get a laugh, imagine that. Any idiot can walk into a theater full of adolescents, drop the F-bomb and get roars of laughter, and do, now that was easy. The industry has gone from using salatious material to be thought-provoking (Kubrick, Scorsese) to relying on it for an easy thrill.

Well just when you thought that the art of being funny without body parts and fart jokes was a lost art, along comes Mr. Bean. Rowan Atkinson reminds us with this funny, charming film, that funny is funny. My 9-year-old roared with delight throughout the entire film, as did my wife and I. And the added kick was, it was the first time in a long, long time we did it as a family, without my wife holding the remote with a death-grip to skip over something. It was a nice, and far-too overdue feeling.

Of course there are several references thoughout the movie that will sail over the heads of most children, a scene satirizing a pretentious, arty filmmaker for instance (which was hilarious), but the lion's share of the old, almost silent film-style sight gags and elaborately choreographed Buster Keaton stunts (The amazing walk over a busy highway was pretty impressive), will entertain anyone with a bit of wonder left in them.

A previous reviewer believed that today's children would be bored by Mr. Bean's goofy antics. Sadly, these days he may be right. There are no CGI thingies crashing into each other, no underdressed teen girls chatting on cell phones at the mall, and believe it or not, no fart jokes. But you know something, when I watched my daughter laugh and applaud at the end, I think ...maybe he's wrong.

Much, much better than the original Bean movie, in part because Atkinson is a lot funnier when people around him don't talk too much (unlike the first entry). In fact, every thing I disliked about the first Bean movie was corrected here. THIS is what I was hoping for the first time around.
It takes a while for the film to get going but a couple of the set-pieces had me laughing with tears as did the ending. I've watched the fantastic, final musical number countless times.
Not to say this is Citizen Kane but certainly a great time at the movies.

Compared to recent American Comedies that consist of an endless series of explosions and fart jokes (when they're not burping), this British Film is a delight.

Although much of the film may be a bit slow for American tastes, the pace is well considered and the leisurely segments only make the manic episodes all the more enjoyable.

Like the Disney Hit "Meet the Robinsons", much of the movie doesn't seem to make sense, until the ending when everything comes together in a brilliant, laugh-out-loud conclusion.

A MUST SEE !!

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 115 reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars