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Mr. Bean's Holiday

An uncalled-for sequel

By CHRIS WANGLER | August 22, 2007

1.5 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for Mr. Bean's Holiday.

A cash grab for all involved, this uncalled-for sequel arrives 10 years after the first Mr. Bean movie, and long after Rowan Atkinson’s rubber-faced, classically inspired routine reached its zenith. On a holiday to Cannes won in a church raffle, our bumbling hero rudely devours an unwieldy seafood platter (lightly funny), mimes a Puccini aria for bus fare (sort of funny), and dresses up in drag (utterly not funny). The painfully long and episodic skits detract from some interesting satire about the movie business (e.g., the French must cope with American arrogance in the person of a self-important festival director played by Willem Dafoe). Director Steve Bendelack, whose coda is an ensemble performance of Charles Trenet’s classic song “La mer,” obviously respects the past, but he appears to be on a holiday of his own — from any faintly realistic notion about his audience.

Topics: Reviews , Giacomo Puccini, Willem Dafoe, Charles Trenet, More

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