1997_11 The Daily Collegian November 1997

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Friday, November 7,1997
Weekend
Bits &
Pieces
with David Childers
Breaking news: The only Ska
band that hasn't played Fresno
lately is coming. Reel Big Fish, of
"Sellout" fame, will be playing the
Rainbow Ballroom on Wednesday.
Dec. 3. Get it while you can, be¬
cause the concert scene is bleak
from thereon after.
Yuk: The one band that I don't
want to sec anywhere near Fresno
anytime soon or in the future is
Bush. Is there anything more dis¬
gusting on the radio than Bush? I
didn't think so.
Can't get it out of my head:' I
get knocked down, but I get up
again. I get knocked down, but I get
up again. I get knocked down, but I
get up again."
Interesting week: Unfortu¬
nately we did not have a chance to
preview "Mad City" and I was more
than a little disappointed. It's not
often that you get to see a movie
that hits so close to home. It hasn't
happened for me since I saw
"Slingblade" and "Forrest Gump."*
Bye bye baseball: Like I have
said time and time again, if Fresno
does not build a stadium downtown
there is more to lose than simply
baseball and other sports. Try a
major outdoor venue that could help
the summer concert scene explode.
No offense to our very own amphi¬
theater on campus, but there are
logistical problems with the amphi¬
theater that cannot be overlooked.
That is why we have not seen the
major acts, or major concert festi¬
vals (with the exception of Smokin'
Grooves) come through town.
Believe me. a stadium with sev¬
eral thousand seats is only a posi¬
tive thing for the community on
several different/ronts. If you care
about music, baseball, or life in gen¬
eral, let your voice be heard. City
councilmen arc political animals, so
tame them as such. This issue is
only dead if the people let it die.
If all else fails: If it's Tuesday
afternoon and you can't find a ma¬
jor boxing match on the satellite
feed, you can always check out the
upstairs of the University Student
Union. Your elected student repre-"
sentatives put on quite a show for
you. As on* of their own called it,
it's "a free circus." There is tension,
conflict, idiocy and mild forms of
1 violence. Kind of like your average
Jean Claude Van Damme flick.
New and improved: Apologies
for missing last Friday's issue. But,
due to popular demand, Bits and
Pieces has*gotten a contract exten¬
sion to run twice a week. So look
for it now on Tuesdays and Fridays.
David Childers is a liberal stud¬
ies major and The Collegian's en¬
tertainment 'guru. You can e-mail
him at dchild@psnw.com
'Bean' funny for fans, flawed for others
By Jason Maggini
The Daily Collegian
Rowan Atkinson, who plays the
title character in "Bean," is a very
convincing actor. I never doubted
that Mr. Bean was anything other
than a complete idiot.
Atkinson is, however, one ofthe
most popular performers overseas,
and that is understandable. When
Atkinson is allowed to just perform,
he is quite funny. However, "Bean"
throws the character into a standard
fish-out-of-water plot and adds too
many distractions.
The plot, such as it is, involves
Bean working for the National Art
Gallery in London. The board
members, who desperately want to
get rid of him. ship him off to Los
Angeles. He is passed off as an an
expert who is to speak at the un¬
veiling ofthe painting "Whistler's
Mother," which was purchased by
an L.A. museum.
Bean is a walking disaster area.
who manages to cause chaos both
on the plane trip to L.A. and in the
terminal once he arrives, as well as
making life miserable for David
Langley (Peter MacNicol), the cu¬
rator of the Los Angeles museum
who invites Bean to stay at his
home. y
Bean
Rated PG-13
Starring: Rowan
Atkinson, Peter
MacNicol, Pamela Reed,
Burt Reynolds
Directed by: Mel
Smith
Screenplay by:
Richard Curtis, Robin
Driscoll
At one point in the movie. Bean
is left alone in a room with the $50
million painting. It's like seeing the
Three Stooges enter a fancy man¬
sion with a paint bucket and ladder
- you know major havoc is about to
be wreaked.
As a movie. "Bean" has some
other severe flaws. For example.
Bean, who had barely said more
that two words at a time through¬
out the entire movie, suddenly gives
a speech about what he's learned.on
his trip, a scene that just seemed out
Courtesy Photo
David Langley (Peter MacNicol, left) and Mr. Bean (Rowan
Atkinson, right) react to their over-amped interactive theater
seats in the Mel Smith comedy 'Bean.'
of place and out of character. There     a few good moments with the sup-
is also a jarring shift in tone near
the end, and some extremely bad
camera work. There were no less
than seven scenes where micro¬
phones were visible at the top of the
frame. Some of the comedy bits
were allowed to drag on too long.
"Bean" is by no means a horrible
movie; Atkinson provides several
laughs (a scene involving a
restroom air dryer; Bean attempt¬
ing to stuff a turkey) and there are
porting characters who Otherwise
just play straight men to Bean. It
seems that Mr. Bean is more at
home in short comedy routines thaii
attempting to carry an entire mo\ te,
However, "Bean" is strange enough
to be entertaining, and fans of the
character will probably love it.
"Bean" rates, an "A" if you're a
fan. but only a "C" if you're not
Therefore, the total grade is an av¬
erage.
Actress in 'Summer' knows what she's scared of
By Ian Spelling
College Press Service
Jennifer Love Hewitt knows
what she wants to be when she
grows up.
"I definitely want to go to col¬
lege and study creative writing so I
can write children's stories." she
says. "Shel Silverstein was the big
children's author I read. His books
are not just for kids and I love how
he's not condescending towards
children. Even if a kid doesn't get
it right away, that kid will want to
read it again, and he or she will get
it eventually.
While Hewitt says she'd love to
go to Boston, UCLA or Pepperdine
in a year or two, for now she will
have to content herself with being
not just a regular on TV's beloved
"Party of Five." but the star of
America's No. I movie for two
straight weeks, the horror flick "I
Know What You Did Last Sum¬
mer."
Hewitt plays the sensible Julie,
one of four friends - Sarah Michelle
Cellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie
Prinze, Jr. play the other pals - who
are terrorized by a killer a year af¬
ter their car hit a man whose not-
q in re-de ad body they tossed in a
lake.
Funny thing that Hewitt should
turn up in "Last Summer," for she's
a scaredy-cat and had never seen a
horror movie until a few days be¬
fore "Last Summer" commenced
Filming.
"Oh, please!" shouts the
friendly, chatty actress during a
conversation at Sony Pictures'
Manhattan offices. "The day after I
saw the film I had an interview with
a journalist who sat in front of me
at a screening. When he saw me,
he said, 'I went home with such a
headache because you were
screaming the whole way through.'
It was so funny, because I knew
exactly what was going to happen,
but was still absolutely terrified."
When the makers of "Last Sum¬
mer" first approached Hewitt, they
wanted her to tackle the part even¬
tually played by Cellar, but Hewitt
explained that she'd rather read for
Julie. Had the producers insisted
she play Gellar's role, Hewitt would
have passed on the project.
"Julie really grew throughout
and I thought she'd be the bigger
challenge for me as an actress,"
Hewitt notes. "She goes through
like 20 different personalities. In
each scene, she was somebody dif¬
ferent. She^went from being loving,
happy and sweet to being scared
and vulnerable and having no idea
what to do.
"Then she feels this complete
hatred for her friends for not listen¬
ing to her on the night of the acci¬
dent. She comes back from college
completely demolished, waif-like
and ghostly. She then has to become
strong again, find her friends and
fight to survive. It was exciting to
play that, because for these 20 dif¬
ferent personalities there were 20
different ways I could've played
them." N
On the heels of "Last Summer"
comes 'Telling You." which the 18-
year-old actress describes as "Mys¬
tic Pizza" with guys. "I'm the Long
Island Lolita who's super-perky and
bouncing off the walls," she says,
laughing. "I basically stalked this
one guy back in high school and
now I come back to town and an¬
noy everyone. It's a small role."
" Right now, Hewitt's shooting
"The Party," in which she's the
dream girl of the lead (Ethan
Courtesy Photo
Jennifer Love Hewitt (center) stars in 'I Know What You Did Last
Surnmer,' currently number one at the box office. Hewitt also
acts on television's 'Party of Five.'
Embry). "It's a romantic comedy
with a lot of romance and comedy,
but it's also an 'American Graffiti'
kind of thing," she says. "It's about
what happens, to all these high,
school kids who are just about to
graduate."
As for "Party of Five," the show
is goin£ stronger than ever and,
even though Bailey (Scott Wolf)
and Sarah (Hewitt) broke up, Sa¬
rah remains an integral character.
"They're roommates now,"
Hewitt says. "They're both going
to have romances coming up, which
will create sbme tension. You'll
never be quite sure if we're jealous
of each other or happy for each
other. Also, something's going to
happen to Charlie thaflLJjave an
effect on Sarah and Bailey. People
who love to grab tissues and cry
during "Party of Five' will defi¬
nitely get their chance."
Hewitt has come mighty far
mighty fast. Beyond her acting ex¬
ploits - which also include the TV
shows "The Byrds of Paradise" and
"McKenna." as well as the film
"Sister Act" - she's got three albums
to her credit.
Fortunately, she seems lo have
a good head on her shoulders. "My
mom's a big part of my keeping my
feet on the ground," she notes. "I'm
incredibly lucky and don't ever
want to take for granted all the op¬
portunities I get. I know that for
every job I get at least 50 girls
could've done it as well or better,
or just might have been more right.
Every actor should know that."
Hewitt says she compares her
job to a toy.
"I know it sounds weird but it
makes sense," she says. "When
you're a kid you really, really want
this one toy. You get it, stomp on it
and throw it against the wall. You
don't treat it with respect. If you
treat it that way forjpo long, it gets
taken away and you never get it
back, or it breaks and you never gel
it back."
Please see HEWITT, page 6.