Directed by Mel Smith
Written by Richard Curtis & Robert Driscoll
Starring Rowan Atkinson, Peter MacNicol, Burt Reynolds, Pamela Reed, Tricia Vessey
My Advice: Wait for MST3K.
Okay, Rowan Atkinson is a funny guy. I've seen his standup routines, I thought he was great in The Lion King. He worked with Richard Curtis on Blackadder and Four Weddings and a Funeral. So what the hell happened with this? The storyline is tired from the get-go. Bean is sent to America to represent the museum he is a slumbering security guard at because the people there are sick of him. While there, he must (albeit inadvertantly and perhaps even unwillingly) succeed at his mission while earning the trust and friendship of the family who is hosting him. Not only is this film woefully predictable and formulaic it was just simply not funny and essentially nothing more than a series of sketches with Atkinson noising his way through them. Don't get me wrong, there are some rather humorous moments (I stress the word moments), among them an amusement park ride and then a speech that Bean somehow manages to give--but these moments are few and far between. I'm just glad I saw the free sneak preview and didn't have to pay.