"Canned Laughter" is a British comedy short that runs for slightly under half an hour and here we got an early career effort by director Geffrey Sax and an even earlier career effort by Rowan Atkinson as this was apparently his very first on-screen appearance, but still he is the man at the center of it all playing all kinds of different characters in costume and that's also why I would not call it a Mr. Bean movie. Anyway, at this point Atkinson is already good enough to carry it on his own and he is the main reason ehy this is worth checking out. But they probably should have done without the laugh track that is annoying, even when it is not too loud, which luckily it isn't most of the time. The action here takes us into the bedroom, out to the street, into a fancy restaurant and Atkinson makes the most of these situations by delivering his usual comedy routine paired with a great deal of socially awkward actions and reactions. All in all, Atkinson really carried this entire project on his shoulders and while I am not a fan of all his work, I cannot deny that this one is quite impressive for a man way before the age of 30, especially as he also wrote the entire thing on his own. Go see it.
Review of Canned Laughter
