Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007, Steve Bendelack)

From start to finish, Mr. Bean’s Holiday proves a constant delight. Hamish McColl and Robin Driscoll’s plot is simple–send Rowan Atkinson’s constantly aloof and impossibly unlucky Mr. Bean to France on a holiday. There’s an immediate scene establishing the travel route and then Atkinson gets in trouble at every point along the way.

He eventually gains a young sidekick in Max Baldry, a nemesis in Willem Dafoe and a lady friend in Emma de Caunes. Of course, Atkinson doesn’t talk much and Baldry speaks Russian and de Caunes speaks French. So no one can understand each other, except when Dafoe’s screaming (in English). There’s a whole connection with Cannes Film Festival, but it never feels too forced; the way the film introduces Dafoe (as a pretentious director) is brilliant. The script sets it up passively in one set piece, then brings it up later. It’s such a memorable establishing scene, however, it needs time to fully ripen.

Part of the story involves Atkinson videotaping everything on a camcorder. Director Bendelack nicely mixes the footage in, sometimes utilizing the camcorder footage to further the main plot. It’s a great device for the film, particularly since the camcorder is the plot catalyst.

Beautiful photography from Baz Irvine and a great score from Howard Goodall, don’t want to forget those.

The three principal costars are great–Dafoe, de Caunes, Baldry–and they have great chemistry with the phenomenal Atkinson.

Aside from some slight pacing issues, Holiday is masterful comedy. It’s short, simple and near perfect.

★★★½

CREDITS

Directed by Steve Bendelack; screenplay by Hamish McColl and Robin Driscoll, based on a story by Simon McBurney and a character created by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis; director of photography, Baz Irvine; edited by Tony Cranstoun; music by Howard Goodall; production designer, Michael Carlin; produced by Peter Bennett-Jones, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner; released by Universal Pictures.

Starring Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean), Emma de Caunes (Sabine), Max Baldry (Stepan), Willem Dafoe (Carson Clay), Jean Rochefort (Maitre’D), Karel Roden (Emil) and Steve Pemberton (Vicar).