“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!
No comments:
Post a Comment