Word: beane
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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There are dumb movies, and then there are dumb movies. Making slapstick, the lowest form of humor, successful requires enormous skill and talent. Rowan Atkinson's character, Mr. Bean, whose inspired idiocy traces a direct descent from Charlie Chaplin, infuses new intelligence into unintelligent comedy. It's really too bad that such a well-wrought dumb character finds himself in such a stock dumb movie...
...film Bean is exactly the wrong venue for Atkinson's character. Applying a simple-minded and contrived plot--or indeed applying any kind of plot of import, especially one with morals and attempted emotional baggage--just isn't the kind of load the framework of the character of Bean is supposed to support. It's like having an hour-and-a-half long "Seinfeld" episode about something and expecting viewers to care sincerely about the daily pitfalls of the characters--pitfalls which are so endearing because they are everyday and unimportant. Bean takes Atkinson's comic mastery and confines...
...movie is an offshoot of the most popular British TV comedy series of the 90s, "Mr. Bean." That show displayed the misadventures of a character who can be described as a combination of Charlie Chaplin and Woody Woodpecker. Indeed, there is a definite cartoonish quality to the silly, frivolous and mischievous schtick Atkinson perpetrates. Also cartoon-like is the inconsequential, episodic action; the audience can sit back and enjoy the mashugina machinations without bothering to worry about property damage or hurt feelings. There is a universally appealing joy in watching Atkinson interact, child-like, with the world around...
Fried, spiced bean curd...
WASHINGTON: Momentum is building for an IRS overhaul that could create the ultimate opportunity for revenge by corporate big-wigs who have faced audits. Former Treasury secretaries Nicholas Brady and James Baker surprised the nation's bean counters Monday by endorsing the creation of a private-sector review board to keep tabs on IRS efficiency, or the lack of it, taking the oversight responsibility away from the Treasury Department. The current Treasury secretary, Robert Rubin, is staunchly opposed because he feels the proposal would create conflicts of interest for taxpayers on the board. He is expected to put those sentiments...