Bean (film)

Bean
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Mel Smith
Produced by
Written by
Based on Mr. Bean
by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson
Starring
Music by Howard Goodall
Cinematography Francis Kenny
Edited by Christopher Blunden
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • 2 August 1997 (1997-08-02) (UK)
  • 7 November 1997 (1997-11-07) (US)
Running time
 90 minutes
Country
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Language English
Budget $18 million
Box office $251.2 million[1]

Bean (also known as Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie or Bean: The Movie) is a 1997 comedy film based on the British television series Mr. Bean. It is a British-American venture produced by Working Title Films, Tiger Aspect Films, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Gramercy Pictures. Directed by Mel Smith and written by Robin Driscoll and Richard Curtis (both Mr. Bean veterans), the film stars Rowan Atkinson in the title role, Peter MacNicol, Pamela Reed, Harris Yulin and Burt Reynolds.

The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on August 2, 1997 and in the United States on November 7, 1997 to mixed reviews from critics but was a box office success, having grossed over $250 million worldwide against an $18 million budget.[1] A stand-alone sequel titled Mr. Bean's Holiday was released in 2007.[2]

Plot

Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is a well-meaning but hopelessly clumsy, goofy and destructive security guard working at the National Gallery in London. When the board of directors for the gallery who despise Bean for sleeping on the job fail to fire him due to the chairman (Sir John Mills) threatening repercussions, the board immediately decides on a different course of action and has him represent them during the transfer of the portrait Whistler's Mother to the Grierson Art Gallery in Los Angeles following its purchase by philanthropist General Newton (Burt Reynolds) for $50 million. The curator of the Grierson, David Langley (Peter MacNicol), who is impressed with the false profile of "Dr. Bean", agrees to accommodate him at his house for two months much to the chagrin of his wife Alison (Pamela Reed), his son Kevin (Andrew Lawrence) and daughter Jennifer (Tricia Vessey). After Bean causes mishaps with the airport police and breaks a family heirloom, Alison leaves for her mother's house along with Kevin and Jennifer.

David soon begins to question Bean's intelligence after he suggests they head to a theme park where he rigs the control panel of a ride to make it more exciting but instead gets him arrested and he later messes up a dinner with the gallery's owner George Grierson (Harris Yulin). When David questions Bean, he finds out that Bean is not a doctor after all and things get worse when Bean accidentally defaces the painting shortly after it arrives. Fearing that he will lose his job and possibly face criminal charges for the damage, David becomes despondent and gets drunk even though his family returns out of pity.

To save David's career and not go to prison Bean sneaks back into the gallery, distracts the guard by lacing his cup of coffee with laxatives and replaces the ruined painting with a poster. The plan works on the next day, fooling everyone including Newton. Bean nearly panics when he has to make a speech but gives an improvised, sentimental and deep monologue about the painting that wins the crowd's praise and approval.

Bean is then approached by Lieutenant Brutus (Richard Gant), whom he crossed paths with on two earlier incidents with the police leaving David worried that he knows the truth about the priceless painting's mishap, only to learn from him that Jennifer was rushed to the hospital after being involved in a motorcycle accident along with her boyfriend Stingo Wheelie (Johnny Galecki). Rushing to the hospital, David goes to be with his wife leaving Bean to wander about the hospital's reception area and being mistaken for a doctor after picking up a stethoscope that had been accidentally dropped into the floor. Forced into a surgery room and dressed in surgical scrubs Bean comes across Brutus who is lying on the operating table after having been shot while dealing with a mugging, whereupon Bean manages to remove the bullet from his body via an unorthodox procedure thus saving Brutus' life. David then begs Bean for his help in reviving Jennifer from a coma, to which he succeeds after an accident with a defibrillator sends him flying and landing on top of her. Grateful for having their daughter back, David and Alison are surprised when Bean reveals his true identity. At Bean's suggestion, they repay him by allowing him to stay with them for another week.

After spending quality time with David's family, Bean returns to the airport and thanks David for the time he spent before returning to London. At his flat, Bean admires his bedroom which is now decorated with photos of himself and the Langleys as well as the original Whistler's Mother painting he ruined and smuggled back with him, before going to bed.

Cast

Production

Deleted and alternate scenes

The North American release differs from the international release, as it includes an additional scene:

  • David suggests Bean stuffs the turkey while he distracts the Griersons during the dinner party. While stuffing Bean loses his watch and puts his head inside but gets stuck, in a reference to Merry Christmas Mr. Bean, and has the turkey pulled off by David.[3][4]

The international release includes two alternate scenes on either side of the deleted turkey scene to explain its absence:

  • When searching the refrigerator Bean finds two frankfurters but David thinks the Griersons are expecting something slightly more formal. Bean then finds the onion, later offered as the appetizer, then the turkey. Unable to find something else David asks Bean if he ever cooked a turkey before to which he replies 'Ah yes'. David points out that it would take about five hours to which Bean replies 'Not necessarily'.
  • As they shove the turkey into the microwave oven a role is reversed in which Bean, instead of David, suggests running it for 20 minutes. In this scene Bean's hair is clean having not literally 'had the turkey on'.[5]

According to Rowan Atkinson, in the documentary Bean Scenes Unseen, the reason for the difference is the very different reactions from the American and European audiences in the test screenings.[3]

Music

Bean: The Album
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released 1 August 1997
Label Mercury Records
Producer Various artists
Singles from Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie Soundtrack
  1. "Picture of You"
    Released: 21 July 1997

The film's music was written by Howard Goodall who had also written the music for the television series although the original Mr. Bean theme was not used. Other non-original songs were also featured, in particular The Beatles' "Yesterday" (sung by Wet Wet Wet).

The CD soundtrack features the OMC cover of I Love L.A. despite the original by Randy Newman being the version in the film. The album also features a song not used in the film, a cover of the Alice Cooper song "Elected" (from the Billion Dollar Babies album) performed by famed Iron Maiden lead singer and Heavy metal icon Bruce Dickinson which features sound dubs of Mr. Bean making campaign promises. This had been used for Comic Relief in 1992.

Boyzone also released a song for the film, entitled "Picture of You".

Track listing of CD release
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Picture Of You"Boyzone3:27
2."I Get Around"The Beach Boys2:17
3."Walking On Sunshine"Katrina and the Waves3:51
4."Yesterday"Wet Wet Wet2:55
5."Running Back For More"Louise3:44
6."That Kinda Guy"Thomas Jules-Stock3:37
7."Give Me a Little More Time"Gabrielle4:02
8."I Love L.A." (version not in the film)OMC4:07
9."He's A Rebel"Alisha's Attic2:26
10."Stuck in the Middle with You"Susanna Hoffs4:04
11."Art For Art's Sake"10cc4:19
12."Have Fun Go Mad"Blair3:39
13."Can We Talk (Pure Radio Mix)"Code Red4:03
14."Bean Theme (Mad Pianos)"Howard Goodall3:01
15."Elected"Mr. Bean and The Smear Campaign featuring Bruce Dickinson4:32

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 41% based on 32 reviews with an average rating of 5.3/10.[6] On Metacritic the film holds a score of 52 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7]

References

  1. 1 2 "Bean". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "Bean 2 at the official Mr. Bean site". mrbean.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 May 2006. Retrieved 29 July 2006.
  3. 1 2 "Bean Scenes Unseen (reference starts 8:35 into the video)". You Tube. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "Bean (7/12) Movie CLIP - Stuffing the Turkey (1997) HD". You Tube. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  5. ↑ "Bean. Turkey". You Tube. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  6. ↑ "Bean (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  7. ↑ "Bean Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
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