Director: Peter Howitt
Writer: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, William Davies (Screenplay)
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, John Malkovich, Natalie Imbruglia, Tasha de Vasconcelos, Ben Miller, Greg Wise
Plot: After a sudden attack on MI5, Johnny English, Britain’s most confident, yet unintelligent spy, becomes Britain’s only spy.
Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Johnny English starts when Britain loses its best spies, forcing them to turn to the one man willing to step up, Johnny English (Atkinson) a hapless unintelligent man who is filled with passion.
Johnny’s first case is to track down Pascal Sauvage (Malkovich) after he steals the crown jewels and looks to use his place in history to take over the throne that was taken from his family in the past.
Thoughts on Johnny English
Thoughts – Johnny English is an action comedy looking to poke some fun at the super spy movies that were taking over the industry, with James Bond, Mission Impossible and the start of the Bourne franchise. This will fall into the Rowan Atkinson slapstick style, which isn’t going to be for everyone, with a lot of the humor not getting many if any laughs at all, leaving us feeling flat, because it is more like a series of sketches looking to see how silly certain spy situations might well be. The story does feel paper thin too, with John Malkovich enjoying playing the crazed villain once again. Johnny English will not offer much if you are a big spy fan, leave you disappointed with how everything unfolds and most of all, not getting enough laugh.
Final Thoughts – Johnny English struggles to get the laughs it wants to.
