YMMV / Bean

• Awesome Music: Howard Goodall's main theme "Mad Pianos," a gorgeous, whimsical piece of classic symphonic movie score perfect for Mr. Bean's Big Damn Movie. Listen carefully—it's a recomposition of "Ecce Homo Qui Est Faba". Used most effectively when Bean inflitrates the museum to switch out the destroyed Whistler's Mother with an intact duplicate made from a poster and various other objects.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Lt. Brutus gets shot and the last thing he sees before blacking out on a hospital bed is that one of the surgeons is Bean, giving him an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Horrifying in real life, hilarious here.
• Fanon: Some fans believe that David's marriage with Allison has always been rocky even before they met Bean. This would explain her Wet Blanket Wife attitude throughout the movie that she already displays before she even meets Bean and why David says that "things have gotten that bad" during their argument after he and Bean come home drunk.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the movie, Mr Bean ruined "Whistler's Mother"◊, with hilarious results. In 2012, an elderly woman ruined an ancient Spanish fresco of Jesus, also with hilarious results. For bonus points, the original show's opening theme is titled "Ecce Homo", the same name as the fresco.
  • Bean's taking a level in badass by infiltrating the Grierson Gallery to fix the painting can be seen as some sort of predecessor to Johnny English.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The answer to every question in the universe: "Magic." *Snort, snort!*
  • The scene where Mr. Bean flips off people all over L.A. without knowing what it means has become a popular reaction gif.
  • Mr. Bean Sex Jackass ^Explanation The scene where Mr. Bean tries to dry water on his trousers with an air dryer in an interesting way became popular in early 2024 after Joel from Vinesauce did a stream about it.
• Narm Charm: One of the few moments in cinematic history where a character can simultaneously wear his underpants on his head and be a badass.
• Nightmare Fuel: The Extreme Closeup of Whistler's Mother's face as it melts into a bubbly mess after Bean cleaning it with paint thinner, combined with the creepy background theme, are quite scary. It perfectly captures the "Oh, Crap!" feeling one gets from realizing they've just made a catastrophic and irreparable mistake.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • A certain Doctor also appears as one of Bean's gallery colleagues.
  • Leonard plays Jennifer's boyfriend.
  • Dr. Yang is a museum employee.
• Signature Scene: Bean accidentally destroying Whistler's Mother and David's subsequent freakout.
• So Okay, It's Average: Though the film barely helped Mr. Bean break out in America and British fans generally didn't care for it, there are plenty of viewers who think it's fine for what it is and, while nowhere near the comedy classics as the original show, has some very funny and memorable bits.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • If you watch the other people being thrown around on the Ride of Doom after Bean tampers with it, you will notice they are intentionally standing up and jumping around.
  • An audio example: when Bean first shows David the defaced painting, it's pretty clear that David's cries of "OH GOD, JESUS" etc. are stitched together from multiple takes, especially when the camera zooms in on the painting.
• Squick:
  • David's pre-teen son Kevin invites the middle-aged Bean up to his room to check out his collection of Cindy Crawford pictures. The mental image alone is horrifying.
  • Bean fishing out an M&M he'd dropped into Detective Brutus' open gunshot wound, and then eating it. At least he swishes it around in some water first.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The film's theme, "Mad Pianos", bears some resemblance to the original series' theme "Ecce Homo". (They are both by the same composer, who is referencing his earlier composition.)
• Tear Jerker: When David goes to see his hospitalized daughter, Mr Bean accidentally bumps into him, causing David to hit himself on a moving hospital bed. When Mr Bean tries to help David up, all the latter can do is tell the former, with utter exasperation, to stay where he is and do nothing so nothing can go wrong. After briefly apologizing to Mr Bean, stating that he has to take care of his family, he leaves him behind, with Mr Bean sadly standing there. You can just see how much Mr Bean wants to do good in any way, but ends up failing by indirectly causing harm to others. What makes it worse is the brief reprise of "Mad Pianos" on strings, during the shot of the double doors closing on a despondent Mr Bean.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Giving Mr. Bean slightly more dialogue and explicitly stating what his job is were clearly done to make the character work in a feature film, but fans who felt that the lack of both in his original incarnation was why the character worked so well cite it as the reason this movie doesn't work.
• The Woobie:
  • The security guard doing the night shift at the gallery. Mr Bean spikes his coffee with an unhealthy amount of laxatives and switches out the bathroom key. While he manages to get to the toilet in time, it's revealed the next day that he's still suffering the effects of the laxatives. The audience is given no reason to dislike this guy, yet he is subjected to what may very well be some long-term side effects just for being in Bean's way.
  • David Langley's family life and career are threatened because of the antics of Mr. Bean. Luckily for David, Bean manages to save the day, but you do feel for David when he feels he is about to lose everything.

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