Now that Christmas is long-since dead for another year, I finally get around to my entry in mfunk75's Spawn of Scrooge write-off. Notorious as I am for being very late with write-off entries (or very early), it’s no surprise. This time, there’s an actual reason (other than simply having a unique sense of ‘time’ that you could never understand).

The idea for this write-off is to thumb our collective noses at the holiday season in general. More properly (maybe), at the incredible amount of marketing frenzy and general unreality of it all. The problem with that is that (gasp swoon) I actually like Christmas. In fact, I like it a lot. For a long time I was simply at a loss as to what I might review. Then, I was at a loss as to how to get hold of the thing.

Finally, I found the perfect answer. You will find, as I have, that the number of times the perfect answer will somehow include “Mr. Bean” is quite staggering. Really.


Oddly, despite the fact that the title of this video is ‘The Merry Mishaps of Mr. Bean’, only the first of the two episodes has anything to do with Christmas.


Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) attacks Christmas with his usual, curious spin on humor. For those unfamiliar, Mr. Bean is a show (and a sadly poor movie) that avoids the more familiar approaches to comedy, and cuts straight to the heart of the matter. It is also a show that is almost entirely devoid of dialogue, and is often outrageously politically incorrect.

Innocent, lovable Mr. Bean takes on the holiday season in our first episode, and he pulls no punches. He begins his adventure at Harrod’s, where he buys one, utterly dull Christmas ornament, and wreaks havoc on a nativity scene, at one point whisking the baby Jesus off by toy helicopter. That's comedy. On his way home, typical of the simple-yet-complex style of comedy, he ‘jazzes up’ a Christmas orchestra, and steals a thirty-foot Christmas tree just so he can cut off the top foot to use as his own, and throws the rest of the tree away (sort of).

We also see Mr. Bean and his girlfriend as they roam the streets looking into store windows. His girlfriend takes a fancy to something in the window of a jewelry store, and in yet another slap in the face of the season, Mr. Bean purchases... well, not what she was pointing to, but something technically in the store window.

From the stocking within a stocking, to the turkey stuck on your head, it’s your standard Christmas routine, and Mr. Bean pokes fun at all of it. This episode, even for those who are not fans of the show in general, is (or should be) a holiday classic.


The second episode on this tape is ‘Mr. Bean in Room 426'. Mr. Bean goes on holiday, and in this show he aims his madcap humor at vacationing in general, and to some degree or other, at old people (aren’t they always just in the way?).

Mr. Bean visits a hotel, and when he goes on holiday, he likes to have all the comforts of home. We watch him unpack dozens of pictures to put up on the walls, and his own matching lampshade and curtain combination. Once he’s settled, we see him attempt to deal with the frustrations of travel that we have all grown so accustomed to. Old people on the stairs that won’t get out of your way, having to chop through the wall to get to the next guest’s suite’s bathroom (or however), and getting locked out of your room under delicate circumstances, if you know what I mean. You’ve seen it all before.

I suppose it couldn’t have been called ‘Mr. Bean Takes a Holiday’, because that would have made us expect something else, but that’s really all that happens. We simply have a short stay in a hotel, looking at things from Mr. Bean’s particular world-view. From ‘cheating’ on his registration card, to locking himself in a trunk, and dressing in drag. It’s all standard travel stuff here, with a slight spin.



I found that Mr. Bean was the perfect choice for me. He thoroughly hammers the holiday season (and travel), but no matter what Mr. Bean is poking fun at, you know he’s just having a bit of fun. Even when he moves over to things very politically incorrect, like making fun of old people (or in another episode not on this tape, people who lose their children), you can’t dislike him for it. He’s just saying, “God old people are annoying!... but ya gotta love ‘em!” And let’s face it, who hasn’t said that?

And, lots of things about Christmas really annoy the hell out of me. Stores turning Christmas the day after Halloween. Bloody bell-ringers everywhere. Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia Pet commercials. Shiny, happy people everywhere (and you know they go home and stab their pets with forks, because they are just evil and have no other outlet for their evilness, small and pathetic as they are....... ahem). Yes, the holiday season is, in almost all ways, bloody annoying. But, ya gotta love it!




Special thanks to our host mfunk75 for this write-off. He has cleverly decided to put links to all the participants and their write-off entries on his profile page. Check them out!

http://www.epinions.com/user-mfunk75


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS