IN THEATRES AUGUST 24, 2007<br><br>The hopelessly daft but delightful Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is back in this jovial comedy. This time he wins a trip to the Cannes Film Festival and havoc ensues to such an extent that he may never even get there. Mostly a series of episodes involving Bean’s inability to communicate with French and Russian speakers, this will please youngsters who may be unable to hold continual plot lines together and for whom adult language is still a bafflement. Many of the extended bits are funny: there’s Bean’s frantic attempts to catch the train, his fouling up World War Two movie set, knocking shellfish into a lady’s purse, messing up the Cannes premiere of an uptight director, and bonding with a Russian boy who gets separated from his father (thanks to Bean’s misdoings). An aspiring young actress (Emma de Caunes) helps out and Willem Dafoe is the uptight director. Nay-sayng critics will say that Atkinson’s rubbery, contorted face and spastic physicality are perhaps best left on the small screen, but millions of Bean fans can’t be wrong; there’s plenty to enjoy, from the hilarious scene of Bean earning money by lip-synching the songs of a fellow busker, to his meddling in the projection booth at Cannes. The kid in all of us, perhaps still smarting from being called clumsy and clueless, should delight in Bean’s weird brand of perfect revenge. As a bonus, the cinematography is beautiful, capturing the glistening waves and beautiful beaches of the Riviera with a travelogue’s eye.
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