The British comedian’s best-known character gets a likely final run-out in the last market still interested.
In an idea that sounds about as gut-busting as its Chinglish title, Rowan Atkinson has Mr. Bean, two years after the character seemingly “died” in Mr. Bean: Funeral.
Top Funny Comedian: The Movie (欢乐喜剧人) is a sort of Chinese Hangover, with five comic actors on the loose in China’s sin city, Macao. Governed as a special administrative region of China, similar to Hong Kong, both gambling and prostitution are still legal there, making it a destination for mischief makers from around the country.
The character, conceived as “the world’s most annoying man,” works well in context, as most of Atkinson’s work is mimed. Chinese audiences will likely be drawn to see the movie more for his co-stars, Guo Degang and Yue Yunpeng.
Atkinson’s part is so seemingly on the down-low that it isn’t listed on his IMDB page. Instead, the actor is focused on continuing a series of television features, appearing as fictional French detective Jules Maigret.
Funny Comedian was originally set for a Chinese New Year release. However, with that period have emerged as the year’s most lucrative, Mr. Bean’s appeal was deemed to be less than that of the Monkey King, and was pushed to this less competitive late March slot. Mr. Bean’s got nothing on Chinese New Year box office king Stephen Chow, it seems.
