Rowan Atkinson Movies
Best known to American audiences as the Black Adder and Mr. Bean, black-haired, bug-eyed, and weak-chinned comedian Rowan Atkinson is one of the most popular funnymen in England whose keen, often black humor and knack for physical comedy has earned him a huge international following. Born in Newcastle, Atkinson was educated at Newcastle University and Oxford. While at the latter, he teamed up with budding screenwriter Richard Curtis to write comedy reviews for the Oxford Playhouse. Shortly thereafter, the two created material for the Edinburgh Fringe. By 1978, Atkinson's humor had earned him a devoted fan base and he was offered leading roles in two British television comedies. Instead, Atkinson chose to get involved in the internationally acclaimed comedy series Not the Nine O'Clock News as a writer and a performer. His performances in the oft-distinguished show earned Atkinson a British Academy Award and got him designated "BBC Personality of the Year" in 1980. His stage performances also continued to significantly increase his popularity.In 1983, he and Curtis created the Black Adder, a cowardly and conniving Tudor Prince named Edmund who tries vainly to become King of England after inadvertently killing his father during a battle. Billed as a "situation tragedy" on the BBC, it ran three seasons and later spawned a couple of specials. Atkinson made his feature-film debut in the 1983 James Bond thriller Never Say Never Again. In the late '80s, he starred in a few films penned by Curtis. It was while they were filming The Tall Guy that Atkinson and Curtis created Mr. Bean, an average British Joe with a clumsy nature and a nasty streak and launched a series. Different from other shows in that it was largely silent, Atkinson's Bean demonstrated a rare gift for slapstick that has led to his being compared to Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. During its six year run, Mr. Bean became the most popular show in the U.K. and has since been shown in 89 countries where it has gained a cult following comparable to Monty Python and Fawlty Towers. Atkinson himself attributes his character's popularity to the fact that the socially awkward, middle-aged Bean's mundane adventures, largely due to his clumsy inability to cope with even the smallest of life's foibles, mirror the feelings and experiences of people the world over. In 1997, Atkinson brought the character to the big screen in Bean. Other notable Atkinson film performances include his voice characterization of Zazu in The Lion King and that of the hilariously inarticulate priest in Four Weddings and a Funeral. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 2009
Mr. Bean star Rowan Atkinson steps into the role of comic landlord Mr. Micawber for director Peter Howitt's screen adaptation of the classic novel by revered author Charles Dickens. Widely regarded as one of the author's most autobiographical works, David Copperfield follows a young orphan coming of age on the streets of Victorian-era London. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson
Mr. Bean -- the stick-legged goofball man-child created by Rowan Atkinson on television in the early '90s, and in the 1997 feature Bean -- undertakes his second cinematic adventure in the comic romp Mr. Bean's Holiday. Growing thoroughly sick of the wet, cold, and clammy London weather, Mr. Bean (Atkinson) finds just the right tonic when he wins a trip to sunny southern France, all expenses paid, with a new digital video camera to accompany him. However, he runs headfirst into a series of outrageous and unpleasant situations, such as winding up in a French restaurant where a maître d’ (Jean Rochefort) convinces him to eat bizarre varieties of seafood that he's never before encountered, and discovering that the "Very Fast Train" certainly lives up to its name. Eventually, Mr. Bean (accompanied by a Russian traveling companion whom he meets along his journey) stumbles onto the French Riviera and spoils the latest movie production of snobbish, egomaniacal filmmaker Carson Clay (Willem Dafoe) -- little realizing that his own klutzy video footage will accidentally end up in Clay's film and be screened at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. Unlike the first big-screen incarnation of Atkinson's character, Mr. Bean's Holiday adheres more closely to the formula of the original series by rendering the character almost completely mute. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Emma de Caunes, (more)
Niall Johnson's comedy Keeping Mum concerns the family of a vicar who are beset by a variety of problems. Reverend Walter Goodfellow (Rowan Atkinson) is a well-meaning but hapless religious figure in his town. His son, Petey, is a wimp, forever terrorized at school. His daughter, Holly, enjoys the company of a variety of different boyfriends. Wife Gloria (Kristin Scott Thomas) has had enough of her husband and is considering leaving him for a golf teacher (Patrick Swayze). The family starts to come back together after hiring housekeeper Grace (Maggie Smith), a woman who knows a thing or two about keeping secrets. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, (more)
An unhinged parody of James Bond theatrics, Johnny English finds Mr. Bean himself suiting up as the eponymous super spy for a series of wild and silly adventures. A lowly pencil pusher working for the MI7 agency, Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) is suddenly promoted to super spy after Agent One is assassinated and every other agent is blown up at his funeral. When billionaire entrepreneur Pascal Sauvage (John Malkovich) sponsors the exhibition of the Crown Jewels and the valuable gems disappear on the opening night, and on the watch of English, the newly designated agent must jump into action to uncover the thief and procure the missing valuables. Tracking the thieves' underground escape route with sidekick Bough (Ben Miller), English locks in on Sauvage despite repeated assurances by boss Pegasus (Tim Pigott-Smith) that the respected entrepreneur has nothing to do with the crime. Could the mysterious Lorna (Natalie Imbruglia), who has an odd habit of turning up at the wrong place at the wrong time, hold the key to helping Johnny? A massive hit overseas, Johnny English held its own at the box office in early April 2003, and was slated for wide release in the U.S. If the spoofing in Johnny English strikes especially close to home, that may be because the film was scripted by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who teamed to pen such Bond adventures as Die Another Day and The World is Not Enough. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, John Malkovich, (more)
All of London is in love -- or longing to be -- in Four Weddings and a Funeral writer Richard Curtis' first directorial effort. Billed as "the ultimate romantic comedy," Love Actually involves more than a dozen main characters, each weaving his or her way into another's heart over the course of one particularly eventful Christmas. The seemingly perfect wedding of Juliet (Keira Knightley) and Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) brings many of the principals together, including heartsick best man Mark (Andrew Lincoln), who harbors a very unrequited crush on Juliet. There's also recent widower Daniel (Liam Neeson), trying to help his lonely stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster) express his true feelings to a classmate. Across town, devoted working mother Karen (Emma Thompson) tries to rekindle the passion of her husband, Harry (Alan Rickman), who secretly pines for a young colleague of his. In the same office, the lonely Sarah (Laura Linney) not-so-secretly pines for a man just a few desks away (Rodrigo Santoro), who returns her affections but may not be able to dissuade her neuroses. Providing the unofficial soundtrack for all of the couples is an aging rocker (Bill Nighy) who just wants to cash in and get laid -- but even he might find a meaningful relationship in the most unlikely of places. A working print of Love Actually premiered at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy, (more)
The long-running cartoon from William Hanna and Joseph Barbera that began life in 1969 as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? becomes this live-action, tongue-in-cheek comedy-adventure featuring a computer-generated version of the easily frightened, mush-mouthed Great Dane. Freddie Prinze Jr. stars as Fred, the blonde, confident, ascot-sporting leader of Mystery Inc., a ghost-busting service that exposes phony supernatural phenomena as the work of shysters. Working with Fred are: his rich, beautiful girlfriend, Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar), who has a bad habit of getting kidnapped by villains; Velma (Linda Cardellini), the real brains of the group who pines secretly for Fred; cowardly slacker and dog's best friend Shaggy (Matthew Lillard); and the snack-gobbling pet pooch Scooby. However, after solving its latest case involving a beleaguered toy company owner (Pamela Anderson), the group fractures over Fred's habit of grabbing credit for everyone's hard work, despite the pleas of Shaggy and Scooby. Two years later, they are reunited at Spooky Island, a theme park and teen spring break destination that owner Emile Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson) claims is plagued with ghosts. Suspicious as usual of any claims involving the paranormal, the Mystery Inc. clan is soon probing a scheme involving ancient rites, summoned spirits, and brainwashed college students, forcing the group members to resolve their differences and uncover the truth. Directed by Chris Columbus protégé Raja Gosnell, Scooby-Doo features the voice of Scott Innes as the title character. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Freddie Prinze, Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, (more)
A very loose remake of the classic multi-star comedy It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), this madcap comedy is directed by Jerry Zucker, one third of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy team and director of Ghost (1990). John Cleese stars as an eccentric casino owner who devises a contest pitting six teams against each other in a race to claim two million dollars from a locker in New Mexico. The competitors are Owen (Cuba Gooding Jr., who ends up driving a bus full of Lucille Ball imitators, a foreigner (Rowan Atkinson) who hitches a ride in an organ donor vehicle, and a recently reunited mother and daughter (Whoopi Goldberg and Lanei Chapman) who anger a "squirrel lady" (Kathy Bates) -- much to their regret. There are also two con artist brothers (Seth Green and Vince Vieluf), the upright Nick (Breckin Meyer), who gets a lift from cute but psychotic pilot Tracy (Amy Smart), and the eccentric Pear family, headed up by Jon Lovitz. Rat Race also stars Dave Thomas, Kathy Najimy, Wayne Knight, Dean Cain, and Paul Rodriguez. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, (more)
In this light comedy directed by British writer-comedian Ben Elton, Sam and Lucy Bell (Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson) are an upwardly mobile London couple who are trying desperately to conceive a baby. Along for the ride, which is laden with sperm-count and hormone-injection jokes, is a cast that reads like a Who's Who in British comedy. Rowan Atkinson makes an appearance as an obstetrician, Dawn French and Joanna Lumley show up as an Australian nurse and Lucy's snooty boss, and Emma Thompson has a stint as a New Age health freak. Adrian Lester and Tom Hollander also co-star, the latter as a Brit-loathing Scottish director. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Dawn French, (more)
Rowan Atkinson returns to the role of royal scoundrel Edmund Blackadder in this hilariously skewered romp through British history. On the eve of the New Millennium, the latest incarnations of Blackadder and his eternal flunkey Baldrick step into a time machine, purportedly based on a design by Leonardo da Vinci. On a dare, the boys agree to check out a few historical high points -- only to become totally lost in time and space, bouncing back and forth (hence the title) from the Jurassic Period, to the era of Robin Hood, to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, back again to 1999, and back again "forward into the past." Several of the regular performers from the previous Black Adder TV series are once again in attendance, including stars Atkinson and Tony Robinson, Miranda Richardson, Hugh Laurie, and Rik Mayall. Produced for exhibition at England's Millennium Dome on January 1, 2000, Black Adder V: Back and Forth was previewed on December 6, 1999, and subsequently telecast on the Sky TV satellite service. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, (more)
Comic actor Rowan Atkinson brought his bumbling character Mr. Bean from television to the big screen with this British comedy. Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is a well-meaning but not especially bright fellow with a gift for making the worst of any situation. Bean is about to be fired from his job as a guard at the Royal Nation Art Gallery for sleeping on the job, but the Chairman (John Mills) intervenes at the last moment. To insure that his incompetence will manifest itself so completely that there will be no choice but to get rid of him, Bean's superiors come up with a plan -- they'll send him to America to speak at a posh private gallery owned by George Grierson (Harris Yulin), where General Newton (Burt Reynolds) will display the most recent addition to his art collection, "Whistler's Mother." It's even money whether or not the museum will still be standing before Bean is done; as if this weren't enough, while in L.A. Bean is mistaken for a surgeon and forced to operate on an injured police officer. Richard Curtis, one of the film's producers, said after viewing the final product, "It's an unpleasant family movie. I'm very pleased." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Peter MacNicol, (more)
- 1996
The citizenry of Gasforth is up in arms over the proposed construction of a new highway bypass. In trying to control the situation, Inspector Raymond Fowler is stymied by the fact that his police squad colleague (and erstwhile sweetheart) Sgt. Patricia Dawkins has joined the protestors. In other developments, Constable Frank Goody falls in love, while Detective Inspector Grim obsesses over the "desecration" of his precious automobile. "Road Rage" was originally telecast on December 19 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Serena Evans, (more)
- 1996
Miraculously, the Gasforth soccer team makes it all the way to the semifinals. As a result, Inspector Raymond Fowler trains his staff to prepare for riots in the street. Neither the team nor Fowler could have picked a worse time for their individual "projects"; Mayoress Wickerham has launched a campaign to attract foreign investors to the community. "Come On You Blues" was first telecast on December 12, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Serena Evans, (more)
- 1996
Having been captivated by the new age movement, Sgt. Patricia Dawkins decides to go through an elaborate "rebirthing" process -- thereby driving her off-and-on lover, Inspector Raymond Fowler, completely bonkers. In the same spirit, Constable Frank Goody decides to adopt an alternative (to say the least) lifestyle. Other crises at the Gasforth Police Station involve Detective Inspector Grim's efforts to bust druggies at a local "rave," a temporarily co-ed bathroom, and a visit from the sister of WPC Maggie Habib. "Alternative Culture" originally aired on December 5, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Serena Evans, (more)
- 1996
Havoc reigns supreme when a BBC film crew elects to produce a documentary about the members of the Gasforth police squad. Not only do the filmmakers continually get in the way of due process, but their presence also sparks a vicious war of egos amongst the various inspectors and constables. No one is more starstruck than Inspector Raymond Fowler, whose camera-hogging must be seen to be believed. "Fly on the Wall" was originally shown on November 28, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Serena Evans, (more)
- 1996
Inspector Raymond Fowler is in for a whole new set of headaches when Ms. Wickerham, the new Mayoress of Gasforth, decides to begin legislating political correctness. As luck would have it, Wickerham's campaign coincides with the arrival of an illegal immigrant and the EC Commissioner for Human Rights (each of whom is mistaken for the other). On another front, Sgt. Patricia Dawkins tries to save a woman from being beaten -- thereby lousing up yet another carefully contrived "sting" operation by Detective Inspector Grim. "Ism, Ism, Ism" first aired on November 21, 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Serena Evans, (more)
- 1996
The Thin Blue Line launched its second season with the November 14, 1996, episode "Court in the Act." Inspector Raymond Walker of the Gasforth police squad faces a formidable new opponent in the form of the excessively politically correct Mayoress Wickerham (Lucy Robinson). Meanwhile, the rest of the officers are thoroughly confused by the station's new "time saving" electronic equipment. And while trying to help the CID trap a local drug dealer, Detective Inspector Grim is thwarted by one of his own men, Constable Kevin Goody (whose garish new uniform unexpectedly saves everyone's job!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Serena Evans, (more)
- 1996
After ten years of living together, Inspector Raymond Fowler finally proposes to Sgt. Patricia Dawkins. She is thrilled -- until she discovers the true motivations behind Raymond's question-popping. As if this weren't trouble enough, Detective Inspector Grim is more depressed than usual over his impending 20th anniversary with the Gasforth police squad. "Green Eyed Monster" first aired December 23, 1996, as the final episode of The Thin Blue Line. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rowan Atkinson, Serena Evans, (more)
