Two-Movie Tuesday: Bean Girls

On Wednesdays we wear pink but on Tuesdays we wear brown suits and fetch a couple o’ movies for ya.

---

Bean (1997)

A masterclass in comedic acting; it says something when almost the entire movie is made up of those laugh-out-loud scenes you’d recall to your friends later--and every one was thanks to Atkinson’s bumbling (yet oddly brilliant) Bean. He rarely even needs a straight guy to play off of (though the world of serious art criticism here provides many good ones). Bean’s outrageous slapstick and hilarious yet heartwarming naivety (see his final speech; newly learned hand gesture) had me in stitches.

9

---

Mean Girls (2004)

The plot is conventional and a little unsatisfying and unrealistic near the end (see Cady taking all the blame, then making everything okay with one speech) but a lively script populated by plenty of memorable one-liners (“It’s like I have ESPN or something”), quirky side characters (see weary Mr. Duvall, gangsta math geek Kevin), and oddball asides (see the teens like animals bits) entertains, and the epilogue is touching (“All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you”).

6

---

Here’s to being yourself and flipping off the meanies.