Johnny English Review
by Karina Montgomery (karina AT cinerina DOT com)August 1st, 2003
Johnny English
Catch the Network Premiere with Snacks
I am so sorry to report that Johnny English is not worth the price of admission. However, this not to say that Rowan Atkinson is not, himself, under normal circumstances, worth the price of admission. The man you hopefully know from Black Adder as well as Mr. Bean and Rat Race is a gifted comic actor, with sparkling delivery and great reactions. He does all that he is best at in Johnny English. The problem is that the movie is very poorly written and hamstrings him at the starting gate.
With a swift glance at the IMDB, I uncover the problem: writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who have previously chilled us with awful writing in such films as Plunkett & Macleane, Die Another Day, and the World is Not Enough. That explains all the smooth spy talk and total stupidity of plot and everything. I'm not saying I am William Goldman or anything but part of the joy of a comedy and an action movie is the surprise! Though I really did like the scenes with the tow truck.
I can't even blame the director, Peter Howitt, because he directed the wonderful Sliding Doors, and apparently just the fact that I wasn't as hatefully disgusted after the movie (as I was with the above mentioned Bond movies) means he did all he could on his end.
While the beginning is extremely silly and predictable, the rest of the movie is even more so. It actually telegraphs what could be very funny gags so loudly and so well in advance that it physically hurts. The gags and plot points that occur are funny, and Atkinson's presence in them is funnier still, but by the time they arrive you have already worked through the joke to the next one. Could it have been saved by editing?
English is a bumbling, ineffectual fool of a secret agent (who was never meant to be one) who naturally compares himself to Her Majesty's top super suave agent. It is Atkinson's ability to mix this hubristic ingenuousness into a froth that makes us turn up at the theatre to watch him. As BBC's Black Adder (available on video), Atkinson was blisteringly arrogant and, while certainly more intelligent than his cohorts, was still gotten the better of by them. Johnny English takes this haughty confidence and puts it in Baldrick's brain box.
If you've seen the previews, the best moments (which would actually have been surprises) are there, ruined for you. For a movie based on the Barclay card equivalent of the "Can you hear me now? Good!" guy, it's not too bad, but it's no comedic takeover as it should be. A major plot point also appears to ignore the presence of much of the current Royal family, which is an irritating inattention to detail.
Natalie Imbruglia is very pretty and performs just fine, and that's about all I can say about that. Horrifyingly, John Malkovich is cast as the crazy French millionaire with aspirations to the throne of England. A very wacky little history lesson and example of sloppy writing all in one, Malkovich at least has finally found a role where his Chicago accent does not upstage him; his creepy French one does instead. 'Ow do you like zat, Meester Eenglish?
It's the Samuel Morse school of screenwriting and that's a damn shame. Atkinson deserves the right vehicle but unless you already know and love him, his skill cannot transcend this vehicle. Rent Black Adder instead.
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These reviews (c) 2003 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the Online Film Critics Society http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock Exchange Brokerage Resource
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
