Bean Critic Reviews

But while rooted in British sensibilities, Bean is not to be confused with a Noel Coward comedy. Not every gag in Bean succeeds, but compared with most comedies, this one is a keeper.Read the full review

Some of the middle section of Bean sags, but most of the film zips along with a series of comic setups, played like skits, that emphasize Bean's klutziness, his feeble mentality, his childlike, me-too urges.Read the full review

In this slapdash production directed by Mel Smith ("The Tall Guy" but also, alas, "Radioland Murders"), written by Richard Curtis ("Four Weddings") and Robin Driscoll, there's just enough unrepentant self-centeredness missing to take the hilariously brutish edge off Bean's game for those who know him.Read the full review

The idea of Bean fitting into this situation, even disastrously, requires more than suspension of disbelief. It requires a full blackout of reasoning. But for the converted, and for people with a low threshold for visual comedy, Bean amounts to a hill of laughs.Read the full review

The movie feels stretched out and thin.Read the full review

There are many moments here that are very funny, but the film as a whole is a bit too long.Read the full review

While Bean branches out from the format developed for the television series, it remains faithful to the concepts and constructs that led to its success.Read the full review

Atkinson, who is in almost every scene, boasts a full-on comic personality that on the cinema screen is a bit daunting at times, and it's an open question as to whether the Carrey crowd will go for this seriously eccentric Brit.Read the full review

When Atkinson tries to stretch familiar Beanisms into 80 minutes, the results are mostly unsatisfying.Read the full review