Bean

"One man. One masterpiece. One very big mistake."

1997 1h 29m EN

😐

6.5

MID

🥫

41%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.5

IMDB

★6.5TMDB · 2,682🥫41%Rotten Tomatoes●52Metacritic★6.5IMDB · 115,203

FamilyAdventureComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Childlike Englishman, Mr. Bean, is an incompetent watchman at the Royal National Gallery. After the museum's board of directors' attempt to have him fired is blocked by the chairman, who has taken a liking to Bean, they send him to Los Angeles to act as their ambassador for the unveiling of a historic painting to humiliate him. Fooled, Mr. Bean must now successfully unveil the painting or risk his and a hapless Los Angeles curator's termination.

“One man. One masterpiece. One very big mistake.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Rowan Atkinson
Mr. Bean
Peter MacNicol
David Langley
Pamela Reed
Alison Langley
Tricia Vessey
Jennifer Langley
Andrew Lawrence
Kevin Langley
Harris Yulin
George Grierson
Burt Reynolds
General Newton
Richard Gant
Lieutenant Brutus

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Mel Smith
Writers: Richard Curtis, Robin Driscoll
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

89 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $251M — a 14.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

29 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Mr. Bean Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Mel Smith, shot by Francis Kenny. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Howard Goodall. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Chris Blunden shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Mel Smith directs. Francis Kenny behind the camera. Howard Goodall scores. Chris Blunden cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

189 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Grossed $251M — a 14.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
329 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
5Part of the "Mr. Bean Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Mel Smith, shot by Francis Kenny. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Howard Goodall. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Chris Blunden shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Rowan Atkinson and Peter MacNicol and Pamela Reed carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "One man. One masterpiece. One very big mistake.".
11IMDB entry: tt0118689 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 23 themes, including "california", "london, england", "airport", "paris, france".
13Released under 17 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Francis Kenny
Original score: Howard Goodall
Editing: Chris Blunden
Production design: Peter S. Larkin
Costume design: Hope Hanafin
Makeup / hair: Emjay Olson
Stunt coordinator: Walter Scott
Runtime: 89 min · 1h 29m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $18,000,000
Box office: $251,212,670
Return: 1396% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Bean (1997)
Rotten Tomatoes: 41% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 52/100
IMDB rating: 6.5/10 · 115,203 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

2 wins & 1 nomination total

Part of

Mr. Bean Collection

Collection of Mr. Bean movies.

Also by

Mel Smith

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2024-03-05
★ 8/10
Serious harmonization problems. After the enormous success of Mr. Bean, it was reasonably predictable that, sooner or later, we would see Rowan Atkinson performing his usual antics in a film production. However, despite the actor's efforts, the truth is that it would never be the same, nor could it be, and sometimes the jokes are so forced that they simply lose their effectiveness. In this film, Bean found work at the National Gallery in London. A job that is apparently safe, if we consider that the character gets into trouble even with the simplest tasks: he is a watchman and sits in a chair while visitors and tourists walk around. The problem is that, in the case of Bean, we know that things are going to get complicated almost by magic: and the gallery directors are very happy when the curators of a Californian museum acquire a remarkable painting by an American author and an expert to talk about her at a presentation ceremony: Bean is the one the directors most want to see behind her back, so they don't even hesitate. From here, disaster is waiting to happen. Let's be honest: the film is funny and works reasonably well. It's a good quality comedy, and it was also successful at the box office (although that's not synonymous with quality, because it's also true that there are many much worse films, like “Ted”, which also sold well). We can't point out defects that it doesn't have at all. For me, the biggest defect of this film is the audience, which created very high expectations at the expense of the gigantic success of the fourteen episode miniseries that Atkinson created in the 90s. Anyone waiting to have the same experience with This film will always be disappointing. Things aren't the same, they don't work the same way and everything is a little more exaggerated and forced. However, it would be difficult for an American production to make a feature-length film with Bean any other way. The film takes great care and attention with the sets, cinematography, costumes and effects used, but it is still within the “standard” of light films that the USA released at this time. It's nothing truly exceptional. Throughout the film, situations occur that attempt to recreate Atkinson's style of humor, as he does his best to avoid talking, but still has to do so occasionally. We can say that the actor made a huge effort, but that he also encountered problems adapting his recipe to the North American cinematic style. It's like trying to dress a child in an adult man's costume: it will look bizarre, disharmonious and ugly, but he's dressed. In between, we also have to positively highlight the work of Peter MacNicoll, and of course, being a historian and an art lover, I have to congratulate the use of the occasion to make known to the general public a magnificent painting that really exists: Arrangement in Gray and Black nº 1. It was painted by James Whistler and can be seen at the Orsay Museum in Paris.

Production companies