Mr. Bean's Holiday (also known as
Bean 2,
Bean on Holiday and
French Bean) is a
2007The year 2007 in film saw many new films released worldwide, including several major mainstream sequels, prequels, and remakes as well as original films.-Top grossing films:...
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. Also, films in this style typically have a happy ending . One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies...
starring
Rowan AtkinsonRowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British comedian, actor and writer, famous for his work on sitcoms such as Blackadder, The Thin Blue Line, Mr. Bean and his voiceover work in Walt Disney's The Lion King...
as
Mr. BeanMr. Bean is a British comedy television series of 14 half-hour episodes starring Rowan Atkinson as the title character. Different episodes were written by Rowan Atkinson, Robin Driscoll, Richard Curtis and one by Ben Elton. The self-titled first episode was broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990,...
which was released in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
on 30 March 2007 and on 24 August 2007 in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. It is the second film based on the television series
Mr. BeanMr. Bean is a British comedy television series of 14 half-hour episodes starring Rowan Atkinson as the title character. Different episodes were written by Rowan Atkinson, Robin Driscoll, Richard Curtis and one by Ben Elton. The self-titled first episode was broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990,...
, a sequel to 1997's
BeanBean, also known as Mr. Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie is a 1996 feature film based on the television series Mr. Bean. It stars Rowan Atkinson in the title role and Peter MacNicol. It was directed by Mel Smith, with whom Atkinson had previously worked on Not the Nine O'Clock News...
. Rowan Atkinson said that this is probably the last appearance of the popular titular character.
Release
News of the second film first broke in early 2005, suggesting that it would be written by
Simon McBurneySimon Montagu McBurney, OBE is an English Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated actor, writer and director.-Early life:...
, although in December 2005, Atkinson stated that the screenplay was being written by himself and long-time collaborator
Richard CurtisRichard Whalley Anthony Curtis, CBE is a BAFTA, Primetime Emmy winning and Oscar nominated English screenwriter, music producer, actor and film director, known primarily for romantic comedy films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones's Diary, Notting Hill, The Boat That Rocked and...
. The screenplay was finally confirmed to have been written by
Robin DriscollRobin Driscoll is a British actor and writer, best known as a writer of Mr. Bean. He and Rowan Atkinson are close friends....
,
Simon McBurneySimon Montagu McBurney, OBE is an English Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated actor, writer and director.-Early life:...
and Hamish McColl. Atkinson also said that
Mr. Bean's Holiday will most likely be the last Mr. Bean story he appears in. He was also quoted as saying "Never say never" but went on to add that it was highly unlikely he would appear as Mr. Bean again.
Unlike the 1997
Mel SmithMel Smith is an English comedian, actor, film director, writer and producer.- Biography :Smith's father Kenneth was born in Tow Law, County Durham, and worked at a coal mine in the Second World War looking after the pit ponies...
film,
Mr Bean's Holiday was directed by
Steve BendelackSteve Bendelack is a British film and television director, who has worked primarily on a range of highly-acclaimed comedy programmes.Originally an assistant to Peter Fluck and Roger Law on satirical TV puppet show Spitting Image, he went on to direct the show in later years...
. The film began shooting on 15 May 2006.
It was the official film for
Red Nose Day 2007Red Nose Day 2007, was a fund raising event organized by Comic Relief, broadcast live on BBC One and BBC Two from the evening of March 16 2007 to early the following morning. It was part of "The Big One" campaign...
, with money from the film going towards the charity Comic Relief. Prior to the film's release, a new and exclusive Mr. Bean sketch was broadcast on the Comic Relief telethon on
BBC One
on 16 March 2007.
The movie's official premiere took place at Leicester Square's Odeon in London on Sunday, 25 March, and helped to raise money for both Comic Relief and the Oxford Children's Hospital Appeal charity.
Universal Pictures released a
teaser trailerA teaser trailer, or teaser is a short trailer used to advertise an upcoming movie, game or television series.Teasers, unlike typical theatrical trailers, are usually very short in length and usually contain little, if any, actual footage from the film. Sometimes, it is merely a truncated version...
in November 2006, and in December 2006 launched an official website online.
Plot
The film opens with (
Rowan AtkinsonRowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British comedian, actor and writer, famous for his work on sitcoms such as Blackadder, The Thin Blue Line, Mr. Bean and his voiceover work in Walt Disney's The Lion King...
) attending a
rafflethumb|250px|A typical [[Naples|Neapolitan]] tombola.A raffle is a competition in which people buy numbered tickets. Originating in southern Italy, it is a popular game in numerous countries and is often held to raise funds for a specific event, charity, or occasion.The raffle involves many people...
in June. His number is 919, the winning number. But Bean misreads it upside-down as 616. Frustrated that he lost, he throws the ticket onto a toy train. Seeing the ticket upside down reading 919, he grabs the ticket and yells out that he won in his mumbling deep voice. The prize is a holiday involving a train journey to
CannesCannes France, is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. The population was 70,400 as of the 2007 census. Cannes is the home of numerous luxurious houses and mansions as well as many high-end gated communities...
, a
Sonyis a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest media conglomerates with revenue exceeding ¥ 7.730.0 trillion, or $78.88 billion U.S. . Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game...
video cameraA video camera is a camera used for electronic motion picture acquisition, initially developed by the television industry but now common in other applications as well. The earliest video cameras were those of John Logie Baird, based on the electromechanical Nipkow disk and used by the BBC in...
, and
€The euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
200.
Following a misunderstanding involving a
taxiA taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire, with a driver, for a single passenger, or small group of passengers, typically for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
at the
Gare du NordThe Gare du Nord is one of the six large terminus stations of the SNCF mainline network for Paris, France. It offers connections with several urban transportation lines...
railway station in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Bean is forced to make his way unorthodoxly towards the
Gare de LyonThe Gare de Lyon is one of the six large railway termini in Paris, France. It is named after the city of Lyon, a stop for many long-distance trains departing here, most en route to the south of France. In general the station's SNCF services run to the south and east of France. The station also...
to board his next train towards Cannes. As he misses the train and the next one won't leave for another hour, he has time to sample French
seafoodSeafood is any sea animal or plant that is served as food and eaten by humans. Seafoods include seawater animals, such as fish and shellfish...
at
Le Train BleuLe Train Bleu is a restaurant located in the hall of the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris, France.The restaurant has served drinks and meals to travelers and other guests since 1901 in an ornately decorated setting....
restaurant. He accidentally orders
oysterThe word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s and langoustine, which he cannot bring himself to eat. He surreptitiously pours the oysters into a nearby lady's
handbagA handbag - or purse in American English - is a medium to large bag, often fashionably designed, typically used by women, and used to hold personal items such as wallet/coin purse, keys, tissues, cosmetics, a hairbrush, cellular device or personal digital assistant, feminine hygiene products,...
, and eats the whole langoustine without taking off the shell in front of everybody.
Back on the platform, Bean asks a man, who happens to be a
Cannes Film FestivalThe Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France.The 62nd edition started 13 May and ended 24 May 2009...
jury member and
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n movie critic Emil Dachevsky (
Karel RodenKarel Roden is a Czech actor.Roden's father and grandfather were also actors. After study of theatrical art in Prague he has taken many roles in theatres and movies...
), to use his camcorder to film his walking onto the train. By the time they are done, the
TGVThe TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by VFE, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator. It was developed during the 1970s by GEC-Alsthom and SNCF, and is now operated primarily by SNCF...
is about to leave. Although Bean manages to get onto the train, the doors close before Dachevsky can get on. Dachevsky's son, Stepan (
Max BaldryMaxim "Max" Alexander Baldry is a young British actor who starred as Stepan in Mr Bean's Holiday. He has also appeared in "The Little Polar Bear 2": The Mysterious Island '; he was the voice for Chucho, as well as in the television series Rome Maxim "Max" Alexander Baldry (born January 5, 1996)...
) is therefore left on board by himself. Bean attempts to befriend Stepan, with the result that when the boy slaps him in the face and when he gets off at the next station, Bean gets off too and accidentally misses the train, along with his bag aboard. The train that Stepan's father has boarded does not stop at the station, and he holds up a mobile number, but with the last two digits obscured. Their efforts at calling the number prove fruitless. They board the next train, but since Bean has left his ticket and
passportA passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth...
on the station public telephone, the duo are soon thrown out of the train.
Attempts at busking by miming to Puccini's
O mio babbino caroO mio babbino caro is an aria from the opera Gianni Schicchi , by Giacomo Puccini, to a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. It is sung by Lauretta after tensions between Schicchi and his prospective in-laws have reached a breaking point that threatens to separate her from Rinuccio, the boy she loves...
(sung by
Rita StreichRita Streich was one of the most admired and recorded light coloratura-and-soubrette sopranos of the post-war period....
) and other music prove successful, and Bean buys them a bus ticket to Cannes. Bean loses his ticket by getting the ticket stuck on a chicken's foot. Mr. Bean then steals a nearby bicycle and follows the chicken which has been placed onto a
Peugeot 504The Peugeot 504 is a large family car manufactured by French automaker Peugeot between 1968 and 1983, with licensed production continuing until 2006.-1968 — introduction:...
pickup and ends up at a chicken pen. On his return, he finds that the bicycle has been run over by a
tankThe Sturmgeschütz III assault gun was Germany's most produced armoured fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the proven Panzer III tank...
, but the camera is still intact. After attempting to steal a motorcycle and almost getting killed by a lorry, Bean stumbles on to the set for a TV advertisement, which he accidentally blows up, injuring the director Carson Clay (
Willem DafoeWilliam "Willem" Dafoe is an American film and stage actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...
).
Bean then tries to hitch-hike again; a yellow Mini picks him up, much like the one he owns in the series, driven by actress Sabine (
Emma de CaunesEmma de Caunes is a French film actress.De Caunes was born in Paris, the daughter of actor/director Antoine de Caunes and directorgraphic designer Gaëlle Royer...
) who Bean encountered both at the commercial filming and previously, who offers him a lift to Cannes. She is on her way to the
59th Cannes Film FestivalThe 2006 Cannes Film Festival ran from May 17, 2006 to May 28, 2006. Twenty films from eleven countries were in competition for the Palme d'Or. The President of the Official Jury was Wong Kar-wai, the first Chinese director to preside over the jury....
where Carson Clay's film in which she makes her debut is going to be presented. When they stop at a service station, Bean finds Stepan in a
caféA café , also spelled cafe, is an informal restaurant offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches. This differs from a coffee house, which is a limited-menu establishment which focuses on coffee sales. Depending on the jurisdiction, a café may be licensed to serve alcohol. The term...
. He joins them. Bean and Stepan now attempt, again in vain, to call Dachevsky with Sabine's phone. When Sabine falls deeply asleep, Bean then drives the car himself, but he keeps falling asleep. After doing dangerous and painful things to himself to stay awake, Bean and the other two finally make it to Cannes.
When Sabine goes into a petrol station to change for the premiere, she sees a newsflash, wherein the police have made up a story about Mr. Bean
kidnappingIn criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or asportation of a person against the person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
Stepan and Sabine being his accomplice. However, since she does not want to miss the premiere, she is reluctant to go to the police to clear up the "misunderstanding". They therefore plan to get into Cannes without being identified. Stepan dresses up as Sabine's daughter, while Mr. Bean dresses up as Sabine's mother. They manage to get through the search and Sabine arrives at the premiere on time.
After sneaking into the premiere, Bean is disappointed to see that Sabine's role has been (rather poorly) cut from the film (Carson Clay is seen nodding at the woman beside him at this point, implying that he cut the scene as a favour to his jealous wife), and ends up plugging in his video camera to the projector, where his video diary is unexpectedly played out. However, the strange tale it tells fits director Clay's narration well, so that the director, Sabine, and Bean all receive standing ovations. Stepan is finally reunited with his father.
After the screening, Bean leaves the building and goes to the beach, encountering there many of the other characters. The film then ends with Bean and all the other characters of the film miming a large French musical finale, singing the famous song by
Charles TrenetCharles Trenet was a French singer and songwriter, most famous for his recordings from the late 1930s until the mid-1950s, though his career continued through the 1990s...
, "
La Mer"La Mer" is a song written by French composer, lyricist, singer and showman Charles Trenet .Trenet wrote the lyrics of "La Mer" on a train in 1943 while travelling along the French Mediterranean coast, returning from Paris to Narbonne, supposedly in ten minutes, on toilet paper supplied by SNCF. He...
" (
Beyond the Sea"Beyond the Sea" is a 1946 contemporary pop song with music taken from the song "La Mer" by Charles Trenet and lyrics by Jack Lawrence.Trenet had composed "La Mer" with French lyrics totally different and unrelated to the English language version that Lawrence composed...
).
Cast and roles
| Portrayed by |
Character |
Rowan AtkinsonRowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British comedian, actor and writer, famous for his work on sitcoms such as Blackadder, The Thin Blue Line, Mr. Bean and his voiceover work in Walt Disney's The Lion King...
|
Mr. Bean |
| Steve Pemberton Steve James Pemberton is an English actor, comedian, writer and performer, most famous as a member of The League of Gentlemen along with fellow performers Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss and co-writer Jeremy Dyson....
|
Vicar |
| Lily Atkinson |
Lily at the stereo |
| Preston Nyman -Film:-Television:-Film:{| class="wikitable"|-!Year || Title || Role|-| 2005 || Foster ||Young Zach|-| 2006 || Penelope ||Boy Pupil|-| 2007 || Mr...
|
Boy with train |
| Sharlit Deyzac |
Buffet attendant |
| Francois Touch |
Busker accordion |
| Emma de Caunes Emma de Caunes is a French film actress.De Caunes was born in Paris, the daughter of actor/director Antoine de Caunes and directorgraphic designer Gaëlle Royer...
|
Sabine |
| Arsène Mosca |
Traffic controller |
| Stéphane Debac |
Traffic controller |
Willem DafoeWilliam "Willem" Dafoe is an American film and stage actor, and a founding member of the experimental theatre company The Wooster Group...
|
Carson Clay |
| Philippe Spall |
French journalist |
Jean RochefortJean Rochefort is a French actor, with a career that spanned for over five decades.Rochefort was born in Paris, France. He was 19 years old when he entered the Centre d'Art Dramatique de la rue Blanche. Later he joined the Conservatoire National...
|
waiter in Le Train Bleu Le Train Bleu is a restaurant located in the hall of the Gare de Lyon train station in Paris, France.The restaurant has served drinks and meals to travelers and other guests since 1901 in an ornately decorated setting....
restaurant |
Karel RodenKarel Roden is a Czech actor.Roden's father and grandfather were also actors. After study of theatrical art in Prague he has taken many roles in theatres and movies...
|
Emil |
| Max Baldry Maxim "Max" Alexander Baldry is a young British actor who starred as Stepan in Mr Bean's Holiday. He has also appeared in "The Little Polar Bear 2": The Mysterious Island '; he was the voice for Chucho, as well as in the television series Rome Maxim "Max" Alexander Baldry (born January 5, 1996)...
|
Stepan |
| Pascal Jounier |
Tipsy man |
Antoine de CaunesAntoine de Caunes is a television presenter, actor, writer and film director. He is the son of two prominent French personalities, television journalist-reporter Georges de Caunes and television announcer Jacqueline Joubert...
|
TV presenter |
| Clint Dyer |
Luther |
| Catherine Hosmalin |
SNCFSNCF is a French public enterprise. Its functions include operation of rail services for passengers and freight, and maintenance and signalling of rail infrastructure owned by Réseau Ferré de France . It employs about 180,000 people...
Ticket Inspector |
| Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus |
SNCF |
| Urbain Cancelier |
Bus Driver |
| Eric Naggar |
Suicidal Man |
Trivia
- Rowan Atkinson announced that this movie would be the last story of the character, Mr. Bean.
- This movie contains references to the movie Dumb & Dumber
Dumb and Dumber is a 1994 American comedy film starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. It was written and directed by the Farrelly brothers, featuring slapstick comedy and gross-out humor. Dumb and Dumber contributed to the launch of a successful career for them and set the foundation for many...
. The song "Crash", Mr Bean hitch hiking on a desert road, then being picked up on a mini motorbike, as well as falling asleep at the wheel.
- The original idea for "Mr. Bean's Holiday" was Mr. Bean going to Australia instead of France, but was changed due to the amount of jokes the writers thought up for him speaking to people in a foreign language.
- Mr. Bean's first name is revealed to be Rowan as seen in a quick glance of his passport.
- "Lily at the stereo" is Lily Atkinson, Rowan Atkinson's daughter.
- The film Willem Dafoe's character premieres at the Cannes Film Festival (Carson Clay presents a Carson Clay film starring Carson Clay) pokes fun at Vincent Gallo's The Brown Bunny
The Brown Bunny is a 2004 American independent art house film written, produced and directed by actor Vincent Gallo about a motorcycle racer on a cross-country drive who is haunted by memories of his former lover. It had its world premiere at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival to boos and catcalls...
, which had premiered at Cannes four years before the release of Mr. Bean's Holiday. Gallo's film was strongly criticized as being boring and self indulgent, which is what Carson Clay's film is humorously portrayed as being.
- The scene where Emma de Caunes
Emma de Caunes is a French film actress.De Caunes was born in Paris, the daughter of actor/director Antoine de Caunes and directorgraphic designer Gaëlle Royer...
's character falls asleep at the wheel, there is a moment where she presses up against the window and snores loudly. This is Emma really snoring as she requested the scene to be believable and asked if she could really be put to sleep. She took a sleeping pill. However, she did not know that she snored and was highly embarrassed by the window/snoring moment.
- Despite being shown to quite like oysters in Mr. Bean in Room 426, Mr. Bean is portrayed here as appearing disgusted at the mere sight of them.
Reception
As of 24 August 2007, the film had a score of 56 out of 100 on
MetacriticMetacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
based on 26 reviews. On
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films. The name derives from the historical cliché of throwing tomatoes and other produce at stage performers if a performance was particularly bad.- History :...
, 50% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 107 reviews (54 "fresh", 53 "rotten").
The film was met with mixed reviews by critics. Matthew Turner of
View LondonView London, owned by the 2 View Group Ltd, is an online entertainment guide to London, UK covering restaurants, pubs, bars and nightclubs in London. It also has a "What's On" guide and reviews of current cinema releases by Matthew Turner, its resident film critic.The site allow users to post...
gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and said "Crucially, the film-makers have decided to make Bean more of a bumbling innocent, than the obnoxious and frequently mean-spirited character of the TV show", and that the film is a "surprisingly sweet comedy" with inspired gags and is much better than the previous film.
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
film critic Paul Arendt gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, saying "It's hard to explain the appeal of Mr Bean. At first glance, he seems to be moulded from the primordial clay of nightmares: a leering man-child with a body like a tangle of tweed-coated pipe cleaners and the
gurnA gurn or chuck is a distorted facial expression, and a verb to describe the action. A typical gurn might involve projecting the lower jaw as far forward and up as possible, and covering the upper lip with the lower lip....
ing, window-licking countenance of a suburban sex offender. It's a testament to Rowan Atkinson's skill that, by the end of the film he seems almost cuddly." Philip French of
The ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In about the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a left-liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-History:The...
referred to the character of
Mr. BeanMr. Bean is a British comedy television series of 14 half-hour episodes starring Rowan Atkinson as the title character. Different episodes were written by Rowan Atkinson, Robin Driscoll, Richard Curtis and one by Ben Elton. The self-titled first episode was broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990,...
as a "dim-witted sub-
HulotMonsieur Hulot is a character created and played by French comic Jacques Tati for a series of films in the 1950s and '60s, namely Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot , Mon Oncle , Playtime and Trafic . The character of Hulot also appears briefly in François Truffaut's Bed & Board...
loner" and said the plot involves Atkinson "getting in touch with his retarded inner child." French also said "the best joke is taken directly from
TatiJacques Tati was a noted French comedic filmmaker. He was born Jacques Tatischeff, the son of Russian father Georges-Emmanuel Tatischeff and Dutch mother Marcelle Claire Van Hoof, in Le Pecq, Yvelines, and died in Paris....
's
Jour de FeteJour de fête is the title of a film comedy by the French director Jacques Tati. Jour de fête tells the story of an inept and easily-distracted French mailman who frequently interrupts his duties to converse with the local inhabitants, as well as inspect the traveling fair that has come to his...
." Wendy Ide of
The TimesThe Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register....
gave the film 2 out of 5 stars and said "It has long been a mystery to the British, who consider Bean to be, at best, an ignoble secret weakness, that Rowan Atkinson’s repellent creation is absolutely massive on the Continent." Ide said parts of the film are reminiscent of
City of GodCity of God is a 2002 Brazilian crime drama film directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, released in its home country in 2002 and worldwide in 2003. It was adapted by Bráulio Mantovani from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins...
,
The Straight StoryThe Straight Story is a 1999 film directed by David Lynch. It is based on the true story of Alvin Straight's journey across Iowa and Wisconsin on a lawnmower. The film was edited and produced by Mary Sweeney, Lynch's longtime partner and co-worker. She co-wrote the script with John E...
, and said two scenes are "clumsily borrowed" from
Pee-wee's Big AdventurePee-wee's Big Adventure is a 1985 adventure comedy film directed by Tim Burton in his full-length film debut. Paul Reubens, Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol wrote the script, starring Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman, Elizabeth Daily, Mark Holton and Diane Salinger...
. Ide also wrote that the jokes are weak and one gag "was past its sell-by date ten years ago." Steve Rose of
The GuardianThe Guardian is a British daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Founded in 1821, it is unique among major British newspapers in being owned by a foundation .The Guardian Weekly, which circulates worldwide, provides a compact digest of four newspapers...
gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, said the film was full of awfully weak gags, and "In a post-
BoratBorat Sagdiyev is a fictional character created and portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen. He is the eponymous protagonist of the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan...
world, surely there's no place for Bean's antiquated fusion of Jacques Tati, Pee-Wee Herman and John Major?", while Colm Andrew of the
Manx IndependentThe Manx Independent is a tabloid weekly newspaper in the Isle of Man. It is published every Friday.It is owned by Isle of Man Newspapers, which is now part of Johnston Press....
said "the flimsiness of the character, who is essentially a one-trick pony, starts to show" and his "continual close-up gurning into the camera" becomes tiresome.
Peter Rainer of
The Christian Science MonitorThe Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday through Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of March 31, 2008, the print circulation was 56,083.The CSM is a newspaper...
gave the film a "B" and said "Since Mr. Bean rarely speaks a complete sentence, the effect is of watching a silent movie with sound effects. This was also the dramatic ploy of the great French director-performer
Jacques TatiJacques Tati was a noted French comedic filmmaker. He was born Jacques Tatischeff, the son of Russian father Georges-Emmanuel Tatischeff and Dutch mother Marcelle Claire Van Hoof, in Le Pecq, Yvelines, and died in Paris....
, who is clearly the big influence here." Amy Biancolli of the
Houston ChronicleThe Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA. As of March 2008, it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying "Don't mistake this simpleton hero, or the movie's own simplicity, for a lack of smarts.
Mr. Bean's Holiday is quite savvy about filmmaking, landing a few blows for satire." Biancolli said the humour is "all elementally British and more than a touch French. What it isn't, wasn't, should never attempt to be, is American. That's the mistake made by Mel Smith and the ill-advised forces behind 1997's
Bean: The Movie." Ty Burr of the
Boston Globe said "Either you'll find [Atkinson] hilarious—or he'll seem like one of those awful, tedious comedians who only thinks he's hilarious." Burr also said "There are also a few gags stolen outright from Tati", but concluded "Somewhere, Jacques Tati is smiling." Tom Long of
The Detroit NewsThe Detroit News is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873 when it rented space in the rival Free Press's building. The News absorbed the Detroit Tribune on Februbary 1, 1919, the Detroit Journal on July 21, 1922, and on November 7, 1960,...
said "Watching 90 minutes of this stuff—we're talking broad, broad comedy here—may seem a bit much, but this film actually picks up steam as it rolls along, becoming ever more absurd." and also "Mr. Bean offers a refreshingly blunt reminder of the simple roots of comedy in these grim, overly manufactured times."
Suzanne Condie Lambert of
The Arizona RepublicThe Arizona Republic is a daily newspaper published in Phoenix, Arizona. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. It was ranked tenth in US daily newspapers by circulation in 2007.-Early years:The newspaper was...
said "Atkinson is a gifted physical comedian. And the film is a rarity: a kid-friendly movie that was clearly not produced as a vehicle for selling toys and video games." but also said "It's hard to laugh at a character I'm 95 percent sure is
autisticAutism is a disorder of neural development that is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism involves many parts of the brain; how this occurs is not well understood...
." Lawrence Toppman of
The Charlotte ObserverThe Charlotte Observer, serving Charlotte, North Carolina and its metro area, is the largest newspaper, in terms of circulation, in North and South Carolina. It is owned by The McClatchy Company.-Overview:...
gave the film 2½ stars out of 4 and said "If you like [the character], you will certainly like
Mr. Bean's Holiday, a 10-years-later sequel to
Bean. I found him intermittently funny yet almost unrelentingly creepy", and also "Atkinson doesn't have the deadpan elegance of a
Buster KeatonJoseph Frank "Buster" Keaton VI was an American comic actor and filmmaker. Best known for his silent films, his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the seventh greatest director of all...
or the wry, gentle physicality of a Jacques Tati (whose
Mr. Hulot's HolidayLes Vacances de M. Hulot , is one of Jacques Tati's most famous films, gaining an international reputation for its director upon its release in 1953. Les Vacances introduced the pipe-smoking, well-meaning but clumsy character of M...
inspired the title). He's funniest when mugging shamelessly..."
Ruthe Stein of the
San Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireSan Francisco Chronicle is Northern California's largest newspaper, and one of the largest in the United States, serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area, but distributed throughout...
said "the disasters instigated by Bean's haplessness quickly become tiresome and predictable" but said that one scene later in the film is worth sticking around for. Elizabeth Weitzman of the
New York Daily NewsThe Daily News of New York City is the fifth most-widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 632,595, as of June 13, 2009. The first U.S. daily printed in tabloid form, it was founded in 1919, and as of 2007 is owned and run by Mortimer Zuckerman...
gave the film 2 out of 4 stars and said "If you've never been particularly fond of Atkinson's brand of slapstick, you certainly won't be converted by this trifle." and also "If the title sounds familiar, it's because Atkinson intends his movie to be an homage to the 1953 French classic
Mr. Hulot's HolidayLes Vacances de M. Hulot , is one of Jacques Tati's most famous films, gaining an international reputation for its director upon its release in 1953. Les Vacances introduced the pipe-smoking, well-meaning but clumsy character of M...
. Mr. Hulot was played by one of the all-time great physical comedians, Jacques Tati, and that movie is a genuine delight from start to finish. This version offers a few laughs and an admirable commitment to old-fashioned fun." Phil Villarreal of the
Arizona Daily StarThe Arizona Daily Star is the major morning daily newspaper that serves Tucson and surrounding districts of southern Arizona in the United States. The newspaper was sold in 2005 by Pulitzer, Inc. to Lee Enterprises....
gave the film 2 stars and said "If you've seen 10 minutes of Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean routine, you've seen it all", and "The
NaziNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
stuff is a bit out of place in a G-rated movie. Or any movie, really", later calling Atkinson "a has-Bean." Claudia Puig of
USA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth...
gave the film 1½ stars out of 4 and said "If you've been
lobotomisedLobotomy is a neurosurgical procedure, a form of psychosurgery, also known as a leukotomy or leucotomy . It consists of cutting the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain...
or have the mental age of a kindergartener,
Mr. Bean's Holiday is viable comic entertainment" and also, "The film, set mostly in France, pays homage to Jacques Tati, but the mostly silent gags feel like watered-down Bean."
Rating
In the UK, it was classified by the
British Board of Film ClassificationThe British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is the organisation legally responsible for film classification within the United Kingdom...
as PG for containing "irresponsible behaviour."
This film was originally given a PG rating by the
Motion Picture Association of AmericaThe Motion Picture Association of America , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, is a United States non-profit business and trade association to advance the business interests of movie studios. The MPAA administers the voluntary but dominant MPAA film rating system...
for brief mild language, but Universal cut out most of the language (leaving Stepan saying "damn" in
RussianRussian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe...
in one shot and the same word in
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
in a later shot) so the film would be rated G by the MPAA. It was one of the few Universal theatrically released films to be rated G. The first film, by contrast, was rated PG-13. It is much cleaner in content than the original film.
DVD and HD DVD release
Mr. Bean's Holiday was released on
DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
and
HD DVDHD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisaged to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
on 27 November 2007. The DVD version is in separate
widescreenA widescreen image is a film, computer or television image with a wider and shorter aspect ratio than the standard Academy frame developed during the classical Hollywood cinema era. Silent film was projected at a ratio of four units wide to three units tall, often expressed as 4:3 or 1.33:1...
and
pan and scanPan and scan is one method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown within the proportions of a standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus on the composition's most important aspects...
for the US markets formats. The DVD charted at #1 on the UK DVD Chart on its week of release.
External links