I wasn’t totally excited about seeing the latest adventures of Rowan Atkinson’s nearly silent comedian–I liked his television episodes (available from Netflix and other sources) and the Bean feature film was good fun but nothing I couldn’t wait to catch on video. But as my son’s school starts this week, I think he wanted both Mom and Dad to see it as the Summer’s Last Film event. So we went Sunday–and I’m glad I saw it in a theater. It was better than expected.

Reviewers had been mixed on the movie (as they usually are on most films) but either you like Mr. Bean’s form of retro-slapstick and sight gags or you don’t. Atkinson, who’s funny when speaking as well (see his hilarious Bond spoof, Johnny English) has the rare gift of the great silent comedians like Chaplin to use his body and facial expressions to compensate for the lack of dialogue. Bean speaks only in a low mutter and other

Mr Bean's Holiday Trailer