The latest family-oriented comedy with Rowan Atkinson bumbling around is a Netflix production that, curiously, is cut into nine 10-minute chapters when it could just as easily be watched as a feature without the constant interruptions to play the next episode. The good news, however, is that is is surprisingly a lot funnier than the trailer made it out to be.
Atkinson plays a divorced everyman who takes a new job as a house-sitter for a wealthy couple's swanky home (including their dog, Cupcake) whilst they are on holiday and finds himself pestered by a local CGI bee - a simple setup that could fill a half-hour short but is instead stretched to at least three's worth. It opens with Atkinson on trial for the damage caused as a result of his attempts to dispose of his enemy before - in a wearing plot device - flashing back to where the story originally starts in order to see how it all leads up to the present situation.
At any rate, it's a lot funnier than the last Johnny English film (his performance is something of a synthesis of English and Bean) and what makes it an interesting watch is not only to cringe at very expensive property damage but also Atkinson's attempts to paper over the cracks.
It makes for good, mostly clean, family fun (there are a couple of gags involving Atkinson's crotch that I could have lived without) and would make pleasant enough Christmas viewing as an omnibus feature on BBC One.
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