Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Merry Christmas Mr. Bean (1992) (TV Special Review)


   Mr. Bean” is a British sitcom series created by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis, the former of whom actually inhabits the role of the goofy lead. Despite the show only running for a single season, with only fifteen episodes … the character somehow took on a life of his own, and has sense become a staple of 90’s British comedy. He’s had theatrical movies, animated spin-off shows, music videos, commercial tie-ins, guest appearances … you name it. Naturally, it was during his early years of success that he stared in his own Christmas Special in 1992 titled “Merry Christmas Mr. Bean”. This was only the seventh episode of the show, and has sense become something of a TV holiday classic in its own right. In fact, I frequently see this ranked among the greatest holiday themed episodes of any TV sit-com. So, let’s see if all the praise is warranted, and if it still holds up all these years later.

    The main appeal of Mr. Bean was that his show revolved around visual comedy, with minimal dialogue, and a lot of physical action. The titular Mr. Bean was like a child trapped in a grown man’s body, and the running joke was that he was a clumsy goof, but also an innocent with a big heart … you can imagine what kind of mischief such a character would get himself into on Christmas. Throughout the special, we see that he’s bursting with all the joy and excitement of the holiday, but he’s not mature enough to open-up to the heart of the season, and it leads to a number of quirky highlights. This holiday outing is broken into three distinct acts … the first showing the clumsy antics he gets into while doing his Christmas shopping … the second being a bitter-sweet Christmas Eve alone in his apartment … and finally everything closes on a rather goofy Christmas Day with his girlfriend.

    I will admit that the comedy on display is something of an acquired taste, but for me, I love when things are conveyed through visuals, and comedy just clicks when it’s a visual presentation. The jokes are basic at face value, but there suddenly funny with such a likable novice at the center. I must admit, I found his antics less laugh-out-loud funny, and more relatable to my childhood. When Mr. Bean plays with a nativity scene like a play set, I wasn’t exactly laughing, but it instantly brought back memories of when I did that as a little kid. Also, during the Christmas Eve chapter, there’s a moment when he slams the door on a group of carolers, not necessarily because he’s mean, he’s just acting on his emotions … and he just didn’t care for carolers. Again, I can relate to that, because when I was a kid, I’d always get excited for Christmas, but I sadly didn’t think much of the people around me or their feelings … at least until I grew-up. One of the more depressing gags is when he stays up all night righting Christmas cards … only to mail them to himself … poor guy, he needs friends.

   Of course, we can’t have a Christmas comedy without the mandatory decoration lights going out, or trees falling over … but those are the more disposable jokes. For me, the best comedy in this special are the more subtle moments of Mr. Bean trying to have a concrete relation with his girl-friend. These two share some genuinely funny moments, and theirs a hilarious running joke that involves getting her an engagement ring for a gift … the payoff to this joke is brilliant. Of course, the most famous scene is when Mr. Bean accidentally gets the turkey dinner stuck on his head, along with the girl friend asking … “Do you have the Turkey on”. For me, the funniest thing about this gag wasn’t necessarily the turkey on his head, it was the build-up to the girl friend finally noticing he was wearing it. Despite being one of the most popular visuals from this special, this moment was actually removed when the special aired in a number of countries. This scene was also edited down when it premiered on both Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. There’s also a deleted scene showing how Mr. Bean won the Turkey, although it has been re-inserted in some copies.          

   In the end, I can’t say this is a Christmas special for everyone, but if your open to some clever visual gags, and lovable goofballs, then “Merry Christmas Mr. Bean” might just be worth checking out. While I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of Mr. Bean, I do at least think he’s a great character to take center stage in a Christmas special. I’m also glad they kept this contained to a TV special, because if they tried to give him a theatrical Christmas movie in the vain of 2007’s “Mr. Bean’s Holiday”, it just wouldn’t have worked at all. Still, having said that, this episode certainly isn’t going to stick with me as any personal favorite Christmas special, nor something I’ll be making a tradition of watching every season, but I can appreciate why it left an impression on viewers of the show. I’ll even go so far as to say, it is on par with some of the better Christmas themed sit-com episodes I've seen ... so at least I'll remember it for that. 

Thanks for reading my review of the 1992 Christmas special “Merry Christmas Mr. Bean” … and continue to enjoy the Christmas and holidays specials you Love!           



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