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March 28, 2024, 03:08:01 PM

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Rowan Atkinson: Man VS Bee

Started by TheMonk, January 05, 2021, 11:02:59 AM

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shoulders

Quote from: Old Nehamkin on May 27, 2022, 06:58:36 PMMouse Hunt is a masterpiece, pal.

Well, it's a decent homage to masterpieces but I understand why you say that. This is not a dispute I want to explore though as we both agree it is - at least - a functionally competent live action version of a Tom & Jerry type cartoon. The trailer for Man vs Bee seems to be a further extruded version with any remants of charm listlessly drifting out to sea.

BritishHobo

Maybe this just shows me up as an oversensitive buffoon, but I always hated Mouse Hunt as a child for the same reason I said above. I used to watch it and find it really upsetting these two blokes having everything repeatedly fucked up and destroyed. Lee Evans having his clothes unravelled by the machines in the factory and ending up naked was the bit that really sticks in my mind as horrifying my child self. I was similarly upset as a kid by Bean destroying the painting in the first film, the tank destroying his car in Back To School Mr. Bean, and Johnny English getting his tie stuck in the conveyer belt in Johnny English.

The Bumlord


idunnosomename

I usually hate "haha priceless thing destroyed lol" but the Whistler's Mother destruction in BEAN is played so straight for the enormity of what's going on I quite like the drama. and how he fools everyone by making a copy and nobody's the wiser and he keeps the original so it's all ok in the end.

Also Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 doesn't REALLY need a proper face anyway. if it was the Mona Lisa it would be a bit more triggering. no way could he fake the poplar panel either

lauraxsynthesis

I might just watch the Limmy commentary instead

Stoneage Dinosaurs


bgmnts

Blackadder and Not the Nine O'Clock News.

He helped make those. That's all that matters.

The Bumlord

He has a Master's in electrical engineering. Nerdy is probably correct.

Could be worse, his brother ran for UKIP leadership.

Replies From View

The presence has gone from Rowan Atkinson's eyes.  He no longer has the physicality to throw himself into this kind of comedy, so he's constantly giving off vague gestures one way and another, and seemingly hoping as much as everyone that some decent slapstick will be assembled in the edit.

I don't know if it's because his nemesis in this is CGI so there's nothing 'there' to respond to, or because the director is crap, or maybe it was filmed during covid times when social distancing meant everything was created in bits and put together separately, or maybe it's a consequence of Atkinson's age.  But there's no sense of soul or art in this whatsoever.


Disclaimer:  all I've seen of this is Limmy's analysis of the trailer, but I believe it's enough to have got the gist.

neveragain

It has dropped!

Onto episode three now and I'm finding it all quite delightful. Old-fashioned, nothing groundbreaking, features a CGI bee but a nicely performed bit of silly comedy.

Episode lengths are a bit odd and the first scene didn't need the set-piece-spoiling flash forwards.

Also, I don't think the presence has gone from his eyes and it's a bit silly to claim it has based on a fast-paced trailer.

madhair60

haven't watched this looks crap. if I wanted to watch a man getting terrorised by a bee i would just go outside. atkinson is a cunt also. cheers

Bad Ambassador

Quote from: neveragain on June 24, 2022, 03:10:29 PMIt has dropped!

Onto episode three now and I'm finding it all quite delightful. Old-fashioned, nothing groundbreaking, features a CGI bee but a nicely performed bit of silly comedy.

Is there any obvious reason so far why it's a series of 10-minute episodes rather than a film? Is it paced as a series?

neveragain

#132
Seems illogical to me. There are moments that fit as episode endings but they aren't especially cliffhangers or anything. I think it would have worked just as well as a film but perhaps "bingeable series" are more marketable? For the youth and whatnot.

Finished it now. Ending a bit weak but still enjoyable.

Junglist

Quote from: Bad Ambassador on June 24, 2022, 03:47:38 PMIs there any obvious reason so far why it's a series of 10-minute episodes rather than a film? Is it paced as a series?

Kermode stated that it seems to fit as a full feature length film of this relentless old school slapstick would very much outstay its welcome, hence it being sliced up.

Cuellar


imitationleather



Kelvin



frajer


Lemming

Easily amused but I just watched the first episode and thought it was mildly funny. It's got the sort of "Some Mothers Do Ave Em" formula - as soon as something is shown on-screen, you're just waiting for the protagonist to shatter it to pieces and give a panicked "ooh". Utterly predictable to the point where it might as well be written by an AI, but there's a sort of giddiness in seeing how far things can go fuckwards.

Noodle Lizard

I've watched five of these. It's fine, inoffensive as you like, but it just doesn't feel very funny. I think it's partly to do with the look of it - the glossy high production value doesn't lend itself well to slapstick or otherwise silly comedy, and it's difficult to suspend your disbelief quite as much as you need to when it's presented so formally.

A lot of Mr. Bean similarly involved one minor thing escalating beyond all proportion, even within a five minute sketch, whereas this has a fraction of the energy or creativity that Bean had at its best. The ideas just aren't there. Atkinson's giving it a good shot, although he's not exactly challenging himself either. There are a couple of bits where he seems really uncomfortable with the physical comedy (crawling through the dogflap, talking to the police officer with the bee in his trousers).

I agree that the episodic format is a bit baffling and it's hard to believe that was the plan all along. It really does seem like a film that has been segmented as an afterthought, but Netflix autoplays the next episode before the credits anyway so it doesn't really matter.

Still fine though.

neveragain

The talking to the police bit was genuinely funny.

kalowski

We watched episode 1 tonight and my kids loved it. My lad was giving it the full "Why has he put the manual there?"

BritishHobo

Torn between hating this stupid prick and feeling an abject terror at watching him absolutely destroy his own life.

Gurke and Hare


TheMonk

We'll watched the lot in one go without intending to and it would have held my attention in a cinema. Nice to see him doing this sort of thing again really. Still pulls it off. I thought I'd dislike it. Not brilliant but fine.

Replies From View

I've seen episode 1.  Are we meant to hate the house owners and their house?  I hate the house owners and their house.  They gave the instructions too quickly and fucked off.  It doesn't matter how much house sitting you've already done when the house you're sitting is too complicated to work using intuitive means.

I thought putting the manual on the hob was contrived, and wondered why it took so long to start burning.

I also thought Atkinson was being unreasonably irritated by the bee.  It's a bee.  Ignore it.

Apart from that it was more enjoyable than the trailer let on.  I'm more invested in the situation and character than I expected, probably because I want to see what twist finds him not-guilty after the opening court scene ruled him guilty.

Why would he start talking about the bee only after the ruling though?  You should do that during the defence stage surely?  At the point of the ruling that's it:  finished.


Anyway

BritishHobo

I had all of the same thoughts. I'm guessing the houseowners are deliberately repellant so you don't feel bad about all their terribly-placed stuff getting destroyed. If you're gonna put a statue on a table right in front of the sliding back door and an ancient manuscript out in the open then you deserve Mr. Bean to destroy your house.

Loony lefties always going on about save the bees bollocks

Takes a brave man to say fuck them without fear of being cancelled, thank you for your service Rowan