G-rated films are rare enough these days, but a G-rated film not meant strictly for kids? Intriguing. It was the one aspect of Mr. Bean's Holiday that caught my attention. The movie is obviously meant to appeal to a wide audience -- an international audience, in fact. Unfortunately the humor is uneven and generally tended to annoy me more than it entertained. However, fans of Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean character, from the TV show or the other movie, might feel very different about the film.

The film's humor is strictly physical, in a way that often pays homage to classic silent-film comedy or the films of Jacques Tati -- with varying degrees of success. The story is not especially important, as it's all a setup for the title character's shtick. Mr. Bean (Atkinson) is a very British, very clumsy man who rarely speaks, and then mostly in incoherent mumbles. At a gloomy church raffle, Bean wins a trip to the south of France -- specifically, to Cannes. He also wins a video camera, with which he becomes obsessed. You get the impression that the sad little man has never left his neighborhood; when he gets lost in Paris, he sets a compass in the direction where he wants to go, and walks in mid-street, over cars, through stores, to get to his destination. (I found that to be one of the funnier conceits in the film.) Through a series of misunderstandings, Bean ends up stuck in rural France with a small French boy, and they have to find a way to get to Cannes, videotaping their antics all the way. Bean also keeps running into the lovely French actress Sabine (Emma de Caunes) and a crazy American actor/director (Willem Dafoe).

The power of the adolescent libido and the need for a good laugh were proven when the teen sex romp Superbad outdid all the competition on its opening weekend. Rush Hour 3 and The Bourne Ultimatum covered the two and three spots, with the fourth-place The Simpsons Movie clinging to the top five for the fourth consecutive week. When all was said and done, this is what the final tally looked like.

1. Superbad: $31.2 million.
2. Rush Hour 3: $21.8 million.
3. The Bourne Ultimatum: $19 million.
4. The Simpsons Movie: $6.7 million.
5. The Invasion: $6 million.

There are six five new contenders this week for the top five positions, so the competition should be fierce. Here's what coming out on the weekend of August 24.

Mr. Bean's Holiday
What's It All About: Rowan Atkinson returns as the little-spoken Mr. Bean, who wins a church raffle for a vacation in Cannes, France.
Why It Might Do Well: Even if I've always preferred his Black Adder series to Mr. Bean, Atkinson is a comic genius.
Why It Might Not Do Well: 1997's Bean scored only $2.2 million on its opening weekend, (though it should be noted that was for a limited release of only 242 theaters) and the British style of humor may not sit well with mainstream U.S. audiences.
Number of Theaters: 1,580
Prediction: $9 million.

The Nanny Diaries
What's It All About: In this film based on the novel by Emma McLaughlin, Scarlett Johansson stars as a young woman hired to care for the child of a snooty New York City couple.
Why It Might Do Well: Paul Giamatti plays the upper crust dad, and he's always worth watching (Big Momma's House notwithstanding), and it should appeal to those who like their comedy on the heartwarming side. Ms. Johansson captured my heart in Lost in Translation, and I'm always game to see what she's up to next.
Why It Might Not Do Well: That booger-eating joke in the trailer was enough to keep me away.
Number of Theaters: 1,800
Prediction: $8 million

Resurrecting the Champ
What's It All About: Josh Hartnett plays a sports reporter who discovers a boxing legend (Samuel L. Jackson) living on the streets.
Why It Might Do Well: Dude, it's Sam Jackson, and the film is sporting an 85% fresh rating over at rottentomatoes.com.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The title may fool the general public into thinking this is the world's first zombie boxing movie.
Number of Theaters: 1,550
Prediction: $11 million

September Dawn
What's It All About: A romantic drama set against the backdrop of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre, which involved the deaths of over 100 California-bound Arkansas emigrants in southwestern Utah at the hands of Mormon settlers.
Why It Might Do Well: Jon Voight makes one scary-ass religious zealot.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Again, Jon Voight makes one scary-ass religious zealot.
Number of Theaters: 850
Prediction: $7.5 million

WAR
What's It All About: War? Huh. Good God y'all. An FBI agent hunts down the assassin who killed his partner.
Why It Might Do Well: Things blow up and with Jet Li in the cast you can bet there will be spinning back kicks aplenty.
Why It Might Not Do Well: When I heard Jason Statham say "They killed my partner!" or words to that effect in the trailer, my cliché alarm went off and refuses to stop buzzing.
Number of Theaters: 2,200
Prediction: $15.5 million

Here's how I reckon next weekend will turn out:
1. Superbad
2. The Bourne Ultimatum
3. War
4. Rush Hour 3
5. Resurrecting the Champ

Here's how the last week's competition ended up:
1. Matt: 12
1. Curt: 12
1. Porcalina: 12
1. Gregory Rubinstein: 12
1. Paul D: 12
1. Bubba8193: 12
1. El Borracho: 12
1. Withasong: 12
1. Andre: 12
2. Josh: 11
3. Anna07: 10
3. Rufus: 10
3. Mario: 10
4. Ethan Stanislawski: 8
4. Jasonsmusicpage: 8
4. Ray 8
5. Mike: 7
5. Blair: 7
5. Tangoeco: 7

Please post your prediction for the top five films in the comments section below before 5:00 PM on Saturday. One point for every top five movie correctly named, two points for every correct placement, and one extra point for the top movie. Come on, make us proud.

With myriad adaptations, sequels and re-used ideas, it's pretty surprising to think that Charles Dickens' famous novel David Copperfield hasn't been on the big screen since George Cukor's 1935 version. All those years ago, W.C. Fields played Mr. Micawber, Copperfield's landlord who retains optimism as he slides towards financial ruin (a character who was modeled after Dickens' father). For the uninitiated, Copperfield is Dickens' mid-way novel, quite autobiographical and deals with the life of David from boyhood into manhood. Now the word coming from Variety is that Rowan Atkinson, aka Mr. Bean, is going to take over Fields' role in an upcoming feature adaptation.

The project is reteaming Atkinson with Peter Howitt, who directed the actor in 2003's Johnny English. (His freshman feature was Gwyneth Paltrow's Sliding Doors.) Howitt cowrote the script with Douglas McFerran, who previously collaborated with the director on Doors and Laws of Attraction. Producing partner Richard Johns says, "This is a very fresh adaptation of the novel, not the chocolate boxy, stolid version of Dickens that we are used to. It won't be mannered or reverential. With Dickens, the filmmakers have been trapped in this place where you have caricatured characters, but Peter wants to deal with them like real people." Does this mean that it won't be a period piece, but an modern retelling? It could be, since the director has never done a period piece before. The $30 million film is scheduled to begin shooting early next year, so we'll get more word at some point.

We're not exactly sure where it came from -- it appears as if someone recorded this trailer while watching it play out in a theater. Bootleg baby! Someone get Dan Glickman on the phone, STAT! However, I know it's not playing in front of any American audiences, so perhaps you Brits can let us know if it's leaped into theaters over there. Whatever the case may be, an early trailer for Bean 2 (aka Mr. Bean's Holiday) has arrived on YouTube.

Yes, it's been 10 years since Bean last graced the big screen, but that doesn't mean he's lost his appeal, right? Um, right? In his latest bumbling adventure, Mr. Bean (as played by comedian Rowan Atkinson) travels to France on holiday and finds himself wrapped up in all kinds of hilarity -- culminating in video diaries taken during last May's Cannes Film Festival which, apparently, are accidentally screened at said fest. For those of you think this movie is a waste of time, keep in mind the last Bean flick (which didn't exactly impress, though I wound up watching it at least six or seven times for some odd reason -- damn you cable!) grossed $240 million worldwide. Why did it take so long to make another one? Who knows, perhaps Atkinson likes to spread this stuff apart, one decade at a time. Unfortunately, for you Bean fans in the States, pic will be arriving here last on September 28, 2007 -- but folks in the UK will have a chance to feast on Bean six months earlier, as the film will debut there on March 30. Hey, and Canada gets it on March 23 -- what's up with that, eh?

[via JoBlo]

Edmund Blackadder is one of my favorite TV characters of all-time, and very little has ever made me laugh harder than Hugh Laurie did as the blindingly idiotic Prince "Thick As a Whale Omelet" George in Blackadder's third season. Even in my wildest dreams, however, I never dared to hope that Rowan Atkinson et al would ever return to the outrageous, vaguely-historical-accurate world the show created -- I figured that, in the wake of the one-off, tepidly-received Blackadder Back & Forth, Blackadder was gone for good. Or not.

You see, Stephen Fry -- who appeared in three of the four seasons of the show -- recently told contactmusic.com that he just spoke with Atkinson (currently busy reviving Mr. Bean, another of his TV characters), and that he professed to missing "the joys of Blackadder rehearsals and all that." Depending on who you believe, Atkinson might be doing more than just pining for his old buddies -- according to a story on virgin.net, series vet Ben Elton is actually working right now on a screenplay that lands Blackadder, Baldrick, et al squarely in the middle of The Russian Revolution. Whoa. Blackadder AND Russian history? If this movie happens, I may just die of joy.

After hiding out for the past nine years, Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is finally making his way back to the big screen. You would think that, with the first Bean film grossing $240 million worldwide, a second Bean flick would have come along a lot sooner, right?

Wrong. Bean does what he wants, when he wants,  and if you don't like that attitude then, um, don't watch him. The new film will follow Bean as he travels across the south of France on holiday. Along the way, he will document his ridiculous exploits via some sort of video journal. Somehow, toward the end, his journey will culminate with an unscheduled screening of his video diary at the Cannes Film Festival.

The film will begin shooting on May 15 in France and continue through the end of the festival. Oohh, seeing as Cinematical's own James Rocchi and Karina Longworth will be attending the festival, here's hoping the two of them slide into a sweet cameo role. Perhaps Karina would be interested in playing Bean's love interest? Sounds awfully romantic to me -- what do you think?