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When the rest of the British intelligence personnel are assassinated at a funeral, bumbling
spy Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) is thrust into the limelight with the mission to recover the Crown Jewels. The precious stones have been stolen as part of a plot cooked up
by the ridiculously ambitious French jeweller Pascal Sauvage (John Malkovich) to steal the English throne and turn the whole of Britain into a massive prison complex. Now it's
up to English, his assistant Bough (Ben Miller) and new secret spy Lorna Campbell (Natalie Imbruglia) to stop the megalomaniac Sauvage.
Fast-paced and action-filled, Johnny English is not a spoof, but it is spoofy. The fact
that it's written by William Davis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade—the guys who wrote the last three James Bond movies—should explain why certain parts of the movie seem vaguely
familiar, particularly the 007ish gadgets and methods. You'd probably want to see the movie because you're curious what a fine Shakespearean actor like Malkovich is doing in a
slapdash British comedy like Johnny English. Or maybe you've seen Atkinson as Mr. Bean and you hope to be laughing your way out of the theater again this time. Well, you may
be surprised but you won't be disappointed. The plot is so silly and insane it can't but be funny. It's funny because the movie doesn't have to try to be funny—the actors
themselves know they're there not to make you laugh but to enjoy themselves, so you sort of ride along and let the idiocy give you your money's worth.
Although Johnny English seems harmless enough for even kids (with some parental
guidance), still CINEMA would suggest that its audience be limited to 14-year-olds and up. Viewers too young to appreciate the adult theme (espionage) and the scenes advancing
it might laugh at the slapstick but might also get the impression that, for example, it's perfectly tolerable to crash a funeral, cause panic by pointing a gun at hospital
personnel and patients, or expose the butt of an archbishop to the public, all in the name of Her Majesty's Secret Service and in pursuit of a handful of pricey stones.
(Date reviewed: April 25, 2003)
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