Monday, March 2, 2020

Mr. Bean's Holiday

One more film from my collection marked off.


I needed some fun and this fipm certainly delivers. I was a huge fan of Mr. Bean when I was in my british television phase during my early teen years, that brand of silent and unconventional physical comedy has a wide appeal which this film carries more than the very americanized first movie released in the 90s. Our favorite bumbling and sometimes walking disaster Mr. Bean has won a raffle contest and is quickly in France trying to get to the French Riviera but quickly gets sidetracked when a young boy gets seperated from his father and what could only be described as an odyssey begins. I truly feel that word fits this film so much more than an adventure, an odyssey being a long and eventful journey which certainly fits the bill here with train travels, film festivals, performing arts, and plenty of other occurences. Rowan Atkinson is on top form in this movie, honestly getting strong laughs throughout and his characterization of this odd man is what keeps the film interesting. Which is funny because you can't really describe the Mr. Bean series, it's just several setpieces around this one man who's a bit daft and childlike as he tries to overcome obstacles his way. Hell I think the first episode of that show was him just trying to take a test and it is really funny. So you would think that putting that format on film wouldn't really work but it flows almost flawlessly, and since the movie doesn't even run for a full 90 minutes it's a short and sweet fun ride that really could be viewed and enjoyed by anyone. Now have we seen film's like this? Absolutely. But it does have this charm to it that doesn't make you want to stop watching, it has enough variety to where you won't really know what's coming next but even the bits we have seen are still really funny. The supporting cast though minimal does fine work with particular love going to Emma de Caunes, she is downright lovely and I enjoyed every second of her on screen. The more I think about it the film is practically a foreign film, and not simply just because it stars a british character. You see quite a bit of France beyond Paris, hardly any person speaks english, there is a strong need for subtitles, you get some elements of the culture. You know what it's like? It's like if you took a silent film, a foreign film, and mixed in bits of a found footage film. Yeah surprisingly, there is a bit of footage shot entirely on a real camcorder and not even slightly tampered with, we see it from the lcd screen perspective and it's sprinkled all through the movie. This was quite a while before that type of movie got big, friggin' Cloverfield wasn't even out yet so Mr. Bean's Holiday kinda did it first. And despite being made in 2007 it still holds pretty good with nothing terribly dated beyond the cell phones of the time and a certain popular song around that time which I have to admit I was fully grooving to. It's just a fun little movie that has kind of been under the radar for over a decade, and you know I'm an advocate for giving lesser known films more attention and love. This easily gets 4 stars from me, 7.5/10, I had a wonderful time and really hope you do too. And by all means give the show a whirl, Richard Curtis of Blackadder fame worked on it and it's definitely worth your time.

Next time, something you might not have expected quite so soon.

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