Did rowan atkinson's career crash and burn after blackadder?

I adore Rowan Atkinson. His comedy shaped this weird American kid who watched BBC as a tot. Watched both Blackadder and Bean, his comedy specials, got into Thin Blue Line when older. Unsurprisingly, Zazu (who was literally based off Blackadder) was my favorite Disney character. Further reason that the purulent, plague-ridden mouse from hell should be shunned - they had the absolute temerity to replace Rowan with John fucking Oliver.

Had a friend who heads up a schola use the Mr. Bean theme as warmup practice.

TL;DR he’s adored worldwide and we should go ahead and make this an appreciation thread.

 
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Blackadder is some of the finest television ever produced and the fact that it had not just one, but two fantastic finales is a marvel (the final episode of the fourth series and the millenial special that involves time travel and Blackadder becoming the king with Baldrick as prime minister). Also I think he set the fastest lap time of all the celebs ever to grace the Top Gear test track.
 
Screamer said:
Man vs Bee legitimately looks funny.

You will watch it and you will be happy.
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I found Man vs Bee ridiculously stupid, in an unfunny way.

How he could have burned the house manual in the episode 1 was just stupid and unrealistic. There's no way he could have not noticed:
  • The broth not getting heated up at all (he actually did notice but ignored it and didn't do anything about it)
  • The book getting burned. The smell would have given it away.
Even the premise of the book getting burned was stupid - he just turned on the switch for the wrong burner.

His character is coherent and normal which makes that kind of shit even more unfunny (because it's unlikely he would behave in such a retarded way... lazy writing). At least Mr Bean was clearly retarded, and that's what made him entertaining.

Man vs Bee could have been over by episode 3 when he got the bee in the microwave but he decides to free it instead. Fucking facepalm. At this point, my girlfriend just turned that shit off because even she who is a normie (and just consooms whatever is on the front page of Netflix, or I wouldn't even have watched the show because the premise looked retarded and weak) couldn't stand how stupid the show was.

That shit (freeing the bee) was more blatant lazy writing than the characters in The Walking Dead doing idiotic things that normal people wouldn't do which led to its extension 5 seasons beyond when it should have ended.

The show isn't anything funny-outrageous or "a series of unfortunate events" as Mr Bean and his other old stuff. It's just plain fucktarded. But I wouldn't expect anything more (or less?) for a Netflix-commissioned release.
 
ToxicKek said:
I found Man vs Bee ridiculously stupid, in an unfunny way.

How he could have burned the house manual in the episode 1 was just stupid and unrealistic. There's no way he could have not noticed:
  • The broth not getting heated up at all (he actually did notice but ignored it and didn't do anything about it)
  • The book getting burned. The smell would have given it away.
Even the premise of the book getting burned was stupid - he just turned on the switch for the wrong burner.

His character is coherent and normal which makes that kind of shit even more unfunny (because it's unlikely he would behave in such a retarded way... lazy writing). At least Mr Bean was clearly retarded, and that's what made him entertaining.

Man vs Bee could have been over by episode 3 when he got the bee in the microwave but he decides to free it instead. Fucking facepalm. At this point, my girlfriend just turned that shit off because even she who is a normie (and just consooms whatever is on the front page of Netflix, or I wouldn't even have watched the show because the premise looked retarded and weak) couldn't stand how stupid the show was.

That shit (freeing the bee) was more blatant lazy writing than the characters in The Walking Dead doing idiotic things that normal people wouldn't do which led to its extension 5 seasons beyond when it should have ended.

The show isn't anything funny-outrageous or "a series of unfortunate events" as Mr Bean and his other old stuff. It's just plain fucktarded. But I wouldn't expect anything more (or less?) for a Netflix-commissioned release.
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I totally disagree, I find Man vs. Bee to be absolutely hysterical. I don't think Chaplin or Harold Lloyd were able to perform such physical comedy in their senior years like Atkinson clearly can.

Yes I can't argue with your grievances. The fact is the plotting of the show defies any sensible logic, but I see Man vs. Bee as quite literally a live action Looney Tunes or Donald Duck short. Yes the character does things which simply don't make sense but the point of it is simply to be funny or lead to being funny. You don't get mad at Donald Duck for just randomly deciding to mimic the personality of a baby in "Modern Inventions." It's a lapse in any sensible character judgement done to just deliver the punchline of him being hilariously abused by dysfunctional machines.

If there's anything that might merit my own griping the scenes of emotional drama are just completely cliche. "Oh Poor Mr. Bean is a divorced dad and it's so sad that he's failing to be a good father to his sweet daughter." But those scenes are in there to simply give the viewer a break from the silly physical comedy.

I just find the show (isn't really more of a movie?) to be a fresh air of comedy in an age where the genre as a whole is devoted to being more than just something stupid to get some laughs at. And generally speaking most modern comedies fail miserably at doing both. It's not the best of Mr. Bean but it's not trying to be Mr. Bean. It's just a great actor playing a buffoon for some mindless laughter. I welcome it in the same way I welcome a classic Three Stooges short.
 
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I love Mr. Bean, Johnny English, Blackadder, Rat Race, literally anything with Rowan Atkinson tends to perk me up (although the Bean movies and a few exceptions are kind of so-so), but the minute I found out Man vs Bee was going to be a full series rather than just a one shot movie, I knew it was going to be bleh, and I was right. The best way for something like that to have worked is to go down the same route as Mouse Hunt.

Its still fun and comfy though, and preferable to most original crap on Netflix, and I'm sure kids will get a kick out of it and that's all that matters.
 
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I grew up with Mr. Bean so that remains inviolable, though Blackadder is some of the best comedy in the world. I like Rowan's acting in The Thin Blue Line - Inspector Fowler isn't someone you'd easily mistake for Mr. Bean or Edmund - but the rest of the show is so full of Ben Elton's 90s prewoke PC bullshit that parts of it are hard to stomach these days.

His two film series, for Mr. Bean and Johnny English, match in that the first film is meh, the sequel is very much an improvement. I'll admit I get the feels when Mr. Bean finally gets to that beach. Was there a third Johnny English?

I can't drum up too much enthusiasm for Man vs. Bee. The basic premise makes it sound like an overstretched retread of that one sketch from an old Bean episode. Also a retread of Mouse Hunt with that other Bong comedian Lee Evans. Maybe I'll watch it if I get bored enough.
 
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