Mr. Bean is a wonderful show and a testament to the magic of physical comedy. Given Rowan Atkinson’s remarkably verbal agility as displayed in the Blackadder series, what an amazingly versatile actor he is to play the near silent Mr. Bean.
Mr. Bean is a bizarre man-child and most episodes revolve around him trying to accomplish some simple, everyday task. He is dumb and greedy, but mostly good-natured. It’s really quite hard to describe what is so funny about Mr. Bean. Bean has an astonishingly rubbery face and limbs that are just entertaining to watch. A simple act like him crinkling is nose is, somehow, funny.
As stated, the plots of Mr. Bean are exceedingly simple. The settings are non-descript, although the Britishness gives it a slight exotic flavour for Americans.
The indelible image burned in my mind from watching Mr. Bean is when he falls asleep in church. His limbs became these wobble spaghetti strange. It was riveting, like watching a tightrope walker risking death - but all he was doing was standing there.
In many ways, Mr. Bean was a modern version of miming.Miming is the most hated performance art, yet Atkinson made it hysterically funny with Mr. Bean. Just remarkable.