Oops…
Never get rid of a winner.
Director John Howard Davies had reeled in the first three episodes so that Rowan Atkinson’s brilliance was on full display.
Davies’ replacement by Paul Weiland and John Birkin was particularly painful here.
But there’s another possibility.
What happens when geniuses run out of material?
This really isn’t a very good episode of Mr. Bean.
But it does finally get going in the last bit: at the magic show.
Matilda Ziegler’s responses (Bean’s girlfriend Irma Gobb) as she sits in the audience are priceless. Atkinson’s unfamiliarity with the conventions of magic shows causes him to give away the game concerning several key props…all in a search for his pilfered wristwatch.
It really got a belly laugh out of me!
It should be noted that the previously-mentioned Matilda Ziegler was in a very highly-praised Channel 4 (U.K.)/CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) production with one of my favorite actresses of all time: the Romanian genius/goddess/immortal Anamaria Marinca. That television movie was called Sex Traffic.
Ziegler also teaches dramatic arts at the Norwich School. Norwich (in East Anglia) is, incidentally, a UNESCO “City of Literature” (along with such head-scratchers as Iowa City (USA) and Baghdad). Dear UNESCO, Have you been to Baghdad recently? City of Literature?? Really??? [UNESCO’s bestowal of this award upon the Iraqi capital was in 2015.]
As you can probably tell, there is a dearth of memorable moments in this episode of Mr. Bean.
-PD
paulydeathwish 