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Mr. Bean
Bean film poster
Directed by	Mel Smith
Produced by	Rowan Atkinson Peter Bennet-Jones Tim Bevan Richard Curtis Eric Fellner Rebecca O'Brien
Written by	Rowan Atkinson Richard Curtis Robin Driscoll
Starring	Rowan Atkinson, Peter MacNicol, Burt Reynolds, Pamela Reed, Richard Gant
Music by	Howard Goodall
Cinematography	Francis Kenny
Distributed by	PolyGram Filmed Entertainment (now Universal Studios) Gramercy Pictures
Release date(s)	17 October 1997 (USA)
Running time	90 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$18 million
Followed by	Mr. Bean's Holiday
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Bean (also known as Mr. Bean: The Movie or Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie) is a 1997 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. The film re-used many of the ideas from the original television series, although it was set mainly in California.It even has its own sequel, Mr Bean's Holiday in 2007.

Taglines

• One Man. One Masterpiece. One Very Big Mistake.
• The Ultimate Disaster Movie.
• Everything You've Heard Is True.
• Be afraid, be very afraid, Mr. Bean has a passport.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Response 4 Soundtrack 4.1 List of songs performed by various artists 5 References 6 External links

Mr. Bean, a hopeless caretaker at the "Royal National Gallery", London is sent by his employers, who wish to get rid of him (for sleeping on the job), to America under the pseudonym of "Dr. Bean" to oversee the transfer of Whistler's Mother to a Los Angeles art gallery. Whilst on the plane, Bean entertains an air-sick boy, although unfortunately makes a mess in the process (a slightly more graphic version of a joke used in Mr. Bean Rides Again). Once at the airport, he is surprised to see policemen with guns and pretends he himself has one, which leads to his being swiftly arrested. He meets Lieutenant Brutus, who suspects (and suggests) that Bean takes disorienting medication.

Once released, he meets David Langley, an employee of the Grierson art gallery, and David's family, with whom Bean is to stay for his visit. Mr. Bean immediately wins the affection of David's son (played by Andrew Lawrence) by being able to wiggle his ears, throw M&M's in the air, and catch them in his mouth. However, David's wife is hostile about having to look after him, while David's rebellious teenage daughter finds Bean "ugly as Meat Loaf's butt". His wife later leaves after Bean breaks a family heirloom while fiddling with a CD player. This, in turn, results in Bean's destruction of a crystal statuette.

In his wife's absence, David decides to take Bean on a tour of the Los Angeles art galleries. However, Bean decides that he would rather go to Pacific Park. Here, Bean and David go on a motion simulator ride. Bean is bored by the ride and decides to make it more exciting by changing the circuits to "full power", and rides it again, the ride terrifying the passengers and throwing them out of their seats. After the ride, he is swiftly arrested again by Brutus, who questions David as to whether Bean really is a genius, while watching Bean behave in a way that seems to suggest otherwise.

Back at home, David is unexpectedly visited by George Grierson, the boss of the gallery. David had forgotten about the coming visit; with his wife gone, he is left to cook. Mr. Bean claims he can cook a turkey by leaving it for 20 minutes in the microwave oven and is left to prepare their meal. (In the American version, a joke from Merry Christmas, Mr Bean occurs at this point, wherein Bean loses his watch while stuffing the turkey and puts his head into it to look for the watch. David promptly removes the turkey.) However, Bean's attempt fails when the microwave explodes, spraying turkey flesh all over the kitchen. Afterwards, David asks Bean simple questions about art and finds that he is not a doctor after all.

Once the painting arrives at the gallery, Bean is given a few minutes alone to study it for his grand "speech" at the official revealing ceremony. However, whilst dusting the frame, Bean sneezes on the painting and wipes it with a handkerchief, not knowing that it is covered in blue ink. Terrified, Bean takes it to the caretaker's cupboard to get some agent by which to remove the ink. Unfortunately, he uses lacquer thinner, which also removes the painted face from the painting. Bean attempts to patch it up with an extremely unconvincing cartoon face. On seeing it, David Langley is horrified and hides the painting in a metallic safe. Fearing he will lose his job and possibly face criminal proceedings for the vandalisation of Whistler's Mother, David drowns his sorrows with alcohol and Bean becomes drunk for the first time.

During the night, shortly after David's son mentions that he has some "great posters of Cindy Crawford" in his room, Mr. Bean hatches a plan to restore the painting. He gathers a few items from the house: eggs, nail polish, a small brush, a hair dryer, an egg beater, a pizza slicer, a rather large pair of briefs, a set of plushie slippers, some chewing gum, a flashlight, and some laxative. He sneaks from the house and quietly makes his way to the gallery. He distracts the only security guard on duty and pours the entire bottle of laxative into his coffee, making the guard very ill. The guard rushes to the washroom, but is kept busy because Bean switched some of the keys for the various parts of the gallery. With the plushie slippers to prevent making noise, Bean enters the room where the painting is kept, cuts it out with the pizza cutter and exchanges it for a poster version of itself, gluing it down with the chewing gum and covering it with a texture made of egg white and nail polish mixed with the egg beater to make it look aged, drying it with the hair dryer. This works very well, and at the unveiling the next day, David is shocked to find the painting restored. Bean is left to make an unconventional, impromptu, but well-received speech about the painting's significance.

After the unveiling, Lieutenant Brutus finds David (who initially imagines that he has discovered the truth) and informs him that his daughter, Jennifer, has been involved in a motorcycle accident and is in intensive care. David is given a police escort to the hospital, although Brutus stops on the way after seeing a man with a gun.

At the hospital, Bean is told to stay in the waiting room while David leaves to see his unconscious daughter. Meanwhile, a doctor passing Mr. Bean drops his stethoscope. Bean follows him into a restricted corridor to return the instrument, where he is mistaken for a medical doctor (as he is still wearing his "Dr Bean" nametag from the gallery) and dressed for the operating theatre. He is quite shocked to be pushed into the theatre, only to see Brutus, who has been shot. While the other doctors and nurses are distracted to another theatre, Bean is left in charge of Brutus and accidentally drops an M&M into his wound. Bean rummages around and finds the bullet (which he quickly puts back, fearing to make a mistake) and then his M&M (which he drops into a steriliser and eats). Once the other surgeons return, Brutus is in even worse shape. Realising the bullet is the problem, Bean calmly reaches inside the man's body and retrieves the bullet, saving Brutus. He is then congratulated by the doctors.

After leaving the theatre Bean is again mistaken for a doctor, this time by David who sees him in the surgeon's outfit and pulls him in to see Jennifer, who is unconscious. Bean is unsure what to do and is unable to help; he therefore gets distracted and starts playing about with a defibrillator. He accidentally puts the two resuscitation electrodes together and is sent flying across the room, landing on Jennifer and bringing her back to consciousness. David and his wife rush into the room, and Bean tries to slip away quietly. Still not recognising him as Bean, they stop him and tell him that they will offer him anything. Bean then pulls down his facemask and asks if he can stay for another week.

After another week in Los Angeles with the Langleys (including Bean learning the middle-finger gesture and thinking it is a way to be social), Bean goes home. At the end of the movie, Bean is back in his London flat, and is shown to have taken the original Whistler's Mother home with him, still having the cartoon face he drew on it. He has hung it in his bedroom.

The credits close with Mr. Bean walking into the viewing area and breaking the fourth wall: "Yes, I normally stay to the end as well...bye.". He walks off, but comes back again, saying, "You can go now — if you wish. Bye!". He comes back a third time, but passes through the screen without saying anything, looking at the audience rather awkwardly.

• Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean
• Peter MacNicol as David Langley
• John Mills as Chairman (as Sir John Mills)
• Pamela Reed as Alison Langley
• Harris Yulin as George Grierson
• Burt Reynolds as General Newton
• Larry Drake as Elmer
• Sandra Oh as Bernice Schimmel
• Danny Goldring as Security Buck
• Johnny Galecki as Stingo Wheelie
• Chris Ellis as Det. Butler
• Andrew Lawrence as Kevin Langley
• Peter Egan as Lord Walton
• Peter Capaldi as Gareth
• June Brown as Delilah
• Peter James as Dr. Rosenblum
• Tricia Vessey as Jennifer Langley
• Richard Gant as Lieutenant Brutus

The film was criticised for breaking with the program's tradition of having Mr. Bean as the center of attention and for the alleged Americanisation required to sell it overseas (Bean also speaks intelligently (albeit with apparent difficulty), as opposed to his frequent mumbling in the TV show).^[1] However, the movie grossed over USD$230 million globally (considered by many to be a fair amount, considering it was released the same year as blockbusters like The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Titanic) ^[2] on a budget estimated at $22 million and was followed by a sequel in 2007 called Mr. Bean's Holiday.^[3]

The film's original score was 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 also featured 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 realised a song for the film, entitled "Picture of You".

1. I Love L.A. - OMC
2. Picture Of You - Boyzone
3. I Get Around - The Beach Boys
4. Walking On Sunshine - Katrina And The Waves
5. Yesterday - Wet Wet Wet
6. Running Back For More - Louise
7. That Kinda Guy - Thomas Jules-Stock
8. Give Me A Little More Time - Gabrielle
9. He's A Rebel - Alisha's Attic
10. Stuck In The Middle With You - Susanna Hoffs
11. Art For Art's Sake - 10cc
12. Have Fun Go Mad - Blair
13. Can We Talk (Pure Radio Mix) - Code Red
14. Bean Theme (Mad Pianos) - Howard Goodall
15. Elected - Mr. Bean And The Smear Campiagn

1. ^ Review at the All Movie Guide by Karl Williams, URL accessed July 29, 2006
2. ^ Box office figures at boxofficemojo.com, URL accessed July 29th, 2006
3. ^ Bean 2 at the official Mr. Bean site, URL accessed July 29th, 2006]

• Bean at the Internet Movie Database
• Bean at Rotten Tomatoes
• Bean at Metacritic

• Bean at Box Office Mojo
• Bean at All Movie Guide
• BBC review

v • d • e Mr. Bean
Writers/Performers	Rowan Atkinson · Richard Curtis · Robin Driscoll · Ben Elton
Episode / Film	List of Mr. Bean episodes · Animated series · Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie · Mr. Bean's Holiday
Miscellaneous	Howard Goodall · Matilda Ziegler · John Howard Davies · Mel Smith · Steve Bendelack

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