A Very Funny Human ‘Bean’ Rowan Atkinson Brings Slapstick Hilarity To U.S. In Full-Length Film Debut

“Bean,” if you know what I mean, is more than just a passable movie it’s a blast, from first gulp to final belch. Rowan Atkinson’s foremost television character, the unsinkable Mr. Bean, bounds onto the large screen with all his popeyed doltishness intact.

Mr. Bean also has received a partial personality graft: Bereft of the nastier aspects of his British-TV self, he finds himself capable of moving efficiently, however oafishly, through polite society in ways that would elude him on the tube.

The purists may carp at this transformation, but a big-screen “Bean” requires precisely what Atkinson and co-authors Richard Curtis and Robin Driscoll have supplied - rudimentary social skills, and a sense of communion with the world about him. The pure sociopathic lunacy works fine on the telly’s skits, but Atkinson has Bean there and done that.

The “Mr. Bean” teleseries airs in nearly 100 countries, needing no translation because scarcely a word is spoken. Atkinson plays Mr. Bean as a childlike, disaster-prone throwback to such silent-screen masters as Stan Laurel (pre-Laurel & Hardy) and Harry Langdon, but he raises the ante by making Bean an utterly self-centered jerk, capable of honest malice.

“Bean” catches the character at the start of a brand-new day. Readying for work as an art-museum flunky, Mr. Bean shaves thoroughly - even his nose and forehead.

Bean’s career is imperiled - but he has his supporters, too. When a multimillion-dollar international art deal comes up, his enemies at the National Gallery “promote” Bean to the position of “expert consultant” in hopes that he’ll bungle the assignment badly enough to justify his firing.

On assignment in America, Bean fares clumsily, to put it mildly. He causes major wreckage at the home of his host (Peter MacNicol), and still the mighty Grierson Gallery allows him to enter. The havoc reaches epic proportions, climaxing with a fate worse than paint remover for one of America’s greatest masterpieces.

Atkinson’s Mr. Bean dominates the film. But unlike the TV program, “Bean” boasts a welcome ensemble feel. Peter MacNicol is very good as Mr. Bean’s too-polite host, and Harris Yulin is perfect as a stuffy art snob.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “BEAN” Location: North Division, Spokane Valley Mall, Coeur d’Alene Cinemas Credits: Directed by Mel Smith, starring Rowan Atkinson, Peter MacNicol, Pamela Reed Running time: 1:27 Rating: PG