It Beats Working	Bill on Movies

E-mail story

comment

Printer-friendly version

British TV comedy star returns in 'Holiday'

Long before his small but scene-stealing bits in 1994's "Four Weddings and a Funeral" convulsed international movie audiences, devotees of British TV comedy knew Rowan Atkinson for "The Blackadder" and its various series permutations (usually in the company of Miranda Richardson, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry), not to mention the near-silent comedy series "Mr. Bean" (1990-92).

Mr. Bean's Holiday

In his latest misadventure, Mr. Bean-the nearly wordless misfit who seems to be followed by a trail of pratfalls and hijinks-goes on holiday to the French Riviera and becomes ensnared in a European adventure of cinematic proportions. Tired of the dreary, wet London weather, Bean packs up his suitcase and camcorder to head to Cannes for some sun on the beach. Ah…vacation. But his trip doesn't go as smoothly as he had hoped when the bumbling Bean falls face first into a series of mishaps and fortunate coincidences, far-fetched enough to make his own avant-garde film. Wrongly thought to be both kidnapper and acclaimed filmmaker, he has some serious explaining to do after wreaking havoc across the French countryside and arriving at his vacation spot with a Romanian filmmaker's precocious son and an aspiring actress in tow. Will Bean be arrested by the gendarmes or end up winning the Palme d'Or? It's all caught on camera as Atkinson again applies his awkward athleticism to a comedy of errors in Mr. Bean's Holiday.

Showtimes and more on Mr. Bean's Holiday

Though his films since then are an acquired taste, the comic actor and writer ("Not the Nine O'Clock News") has a remarkable gift for physical comedy and the tart malapropism. He took his bumbling Mr. Bean character to the big screen for "Bean" (1997), which wasn't quite the equal of the TV incarnation. And his others films have been decidedly variable: "The Tall Guy" (1989), "The Witches" (1990), "Hot Shots! Part Deux" (1993), "Maybe Baby" (2000), "Rat Race" (2001) and "Scooby Doo."

But then came the hilarious (if uneven) secret agent spoof "Johnny English," based on a character he first created for a credit-card commercial. It was written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, the team that played it a little more straight in a pair of Pierce Brosnan's 007 outings: "The World Is Not Enough" and "Die Another Day." No one but Atkinson could have segued so seamlessly from urbane spy to fumbling dolt in the space of a heartbeat. And director Peter Howitt made the most of his star's cartoon-hawk features and acting chops.

Now comes Friday's opening of "Mr. Bean's Holiday," the sequel to "Bean," co-starring Willem Dafoe, Emma De Caunes and the versatile French character actor Jean Rochefort ("Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?"). Steve Bendelack helms the latest two-hour pratfall, which finds Bean frolicking on the French Riviera and becoming enmeshed in another absurd misadventure. In Cannes he is the target of a double dose of mistaken identity, tagged as both a notorious kidnapper and a widely hailed filmmaker.

As usual, Bean goes with the flow, even when the flow finds him spilling down a staircase.

Elaine!

Due out Sept. 11 from MGM Home Entertainment is the 40th-anniversary edition DVD of Mike Nichols' "The Graduate," showcasing audio commentary from Dustin Hoffman, Katherine Ross, Nichols and Steven Soderbergh, a new retrospective documentary on the film's lasting influence and a behind-the-scenes featurette. A bonus disc includes Simon & Garfunkel tracks from the film's score. Nominated for seven Academy Awards — Best Picture, Best Actor (Hoffman), Best Actress (Anne Bancroft), Best Supporting Actress (Ross), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography — "The Graduate" won the Oscar for Best Director.

It's the movie that made Hoffman a star and turned Nichols, a former hip, stand-up comedy team fixture, into an A-list director. The story: Shy Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman) returns home from college with an uncertain future. When he is seduced by the predatory wife of his father's business partner, the sexy Mrs. Robinson (Bancroft), the affair only deepens his confusion. That is, until he meets the girl of his dreams (Ross), who just happens to be Mrs. Robinson's daughter.

Sure, the packaging is a gimmick (does anyone seriously believe there won't be a 50th-anniversary edition as well?). But it's a classic, one that hasn't faded in the least. Forty years or 50.

Thomas & Friends

The Movies at Azalea Square 16 theater in Summerville will screen "Thomas & Friends On The Big Screen," a feature film of the popular children's series, on Sept. 8 at 10 a.m.

A British children's television series first broadcast in 1984, "Thomas & Friends," was based on The Railway Series, a series of books created by the Rev. Wilbert V. Awdry.

Included in the screening will be five never-before-seen episodes from the series. Tickets are $7 (children under 2 will be admitted free) and may be obtained now at www.FathomEvents.com or at participating Regal theatre box offices.

My Maltin

The 2008 edition of the popular "Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide" reference has just been released by Hudson Street Press/Plume (a division of the Penguin Group), containing 400 new entries among its 17,000 movie listings. It is joined this year for the first time by a companion book — and a welcome addition — the 9,000-entry "Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide." Professionals have used Maltin's omnibus guides for years, as have film buffs. Their capsule reviews by Maltin and eight other experienced critics remain invaluable. The book should be a part of any movie enthusiast's ready reference library, along with "The New Biographical Dictionary of Film" by David Thomson and "The Filmgoer's Companion" by the late Leslie Halliwell.

An especially useful facet of the new Maltin edition is his personal list of "Fifty More Films You May Have Missed," a tool for catching up with good movies, old and new, that you haven't yet gotten around to seeing or may have escaped your notice.

With this trio, you can't go far wrong.

Bits and Pieces

Just out on DVD is "The Ultimate Gift," a drama featuring James Garner, Brian Dennehy, Abigal Breslin and Drew Fuller (of the Charleston-set TV series "Army Wives.") ... Dirty tricks and sabotage, courtesy of an old flame, create an atmosphere of comic paranoia in "The Ex," an overlooked feature which arrived recently on DVD from the Weinstein Company. It sports a fine cast in Zach Braff ("Garden State"), Amanda Peet ("Something's Gotta Give"), Amy Adams ("Junebug") and Paul Rudd ("The 40 Year Old Virgin"), plus old hands Mia Farrow and Charles Grodin. ... In Michael Davis' caper flick "Shoot 'Em Up," Clive Owen plays a British loner who, after helping a beautiful woman (Monica Belucci) give birth, must then protect the newborn from a merciless criminal (Paul Giamatti). ... The role of Notorious B.I.G. (real name, Christopher Wallace) for an upcoming biopic on the rapper will be filled through an open casting call, the film's producers say. "Notorious" has been in the pipeline for almost seven years by Fox Searchlight Pictures.