
DATE: Saturday, November 8, 1997            TAG: 9711070101

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E5   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   71 lines

SIMPLE COMEDY MAY APPEAL TO SOME

HE'S GOT A FACE that looks like silly putty and a mind that must look like mush.

``Bean,'' the movie extension of Rowan Atkinson's British TV show, ``Mr. Bean'' (seen here on PBS and HBO), has already made more than $100 million in European movie theaters. What it makes in the United States is mere gravy.

The plot, such as it is, is ultra-simple. Mr. Bean is a lowly employee at the National Art Gallery in London. No one can quite understand how he keeps his employment. Failing all efforts to get him fired, the snooty board votes to send him to Los Angeles to accompany an exhibition of ``Whistler's Mother'' which they claim is the most notable American contribution to art. Billed as an art genius, he is scheduled to lecture.

On the plane, Bean explodes a barf bag full of vomit.

That's when we begin to get the idea. This is not high comedy.

This is the kind of guy who will take an electric razor to his tongue.

In the airport, he pretends to have a gun, which unleashes a chase from security guards.

When he sneezes on Whistler's mom, he attempts to erase the evidence with something that amounts to paint remover. And so it goes.

Unsuspecting California museum employee Peter MacNicol, seeing an opportunity for advancement, invites Bean to live at his house. His wife (Pamela Reed) and two children immediately see that Bean is an idiot, but MacNicol insists that his strange behavior is merely eccentricity.

Some of the movie's most comedic moments belong to MacNicol's bewildered reactions. This, incidentally, is the same actor who dates back to ``Sophie's Choice'' opposite Meryl Streep.

Bean, of course, is Rowan Atkinson, the former Oxford student who has become a superstar in England. This is not his movie debut. He was the tongue-troubled priest in ``Four Weddings and a Funeral'' and the voice of Zazu, the toucan, in ``The Lion King.''

Bean on the wide screen is much softer and more pathetic than he has been on TV. The veteran fans may well prefer the more cynical, mean Bean. The softer Bean is closer to Jackie Gleason's ``Poor Soul'' character or, maybe, to Pee Wee Herman.

Yes, if you liked Pee Wee, you'll like Bean.

The best example ever, though, of playing the simpleton who is taken seriously by intelligent folk all around him is Peter Sellers in ``Being There.'' ``Bean'' is by no means in that same class.

There are some genuine laugh-out-loud moments in ``Bean'' but, for the most part, this movie proves that the character should not be stretched beyond sketch length.

If nothing else, ``Bean'' may well be America's revenge. For years British actors have been routinely winning our Academy Awards while we bow to the continental ``sophistication'' of European culture. Our only defense, until now, has been that we can always point out that the French love Jerry Lewis.

Now, we have another example. ``Bean,'' according to the box office figures, is the epitome of European comedy taste.

Yes, we have our Jim Carrey, but they have their Bean. We shouldn't let them forget it. ILLUSTRATION: MELISSA MOSELEY

Rowan Atkinson stars as the title character in the comedy ``Bean,''

based on the popular British TV series.

MOVIE REVIEW

``Bean''

Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Peter MacNicol, Pamela Reed, Harris Yulin,

Burt Reynolds

Director: Mel Smith

Screenplay: Richard Curtis, Robin Driscoll

MPAA rating: PG-13 (some risque jokes)

Mal's rating: **