Review of Johnny English (2003) by Harry W — 03 May 2014

Johnny English is one of those films that I watched many many times as a kid due to Rowan Atkinson's natural comedic charm. After watching Johnny English Reborn and considering it to be absolutely hilarious, I decided to revisit Johnny English years later and find my mature opinion on it.

Re-watching it, I can see why it is such a criticised film. I still enjoyed it, but Johnny English is certainly a deeply flawed film.

The biggest fans of Rowan Atkinson may find Johnny English appealing, and since I fit into that context I can see how it is entertaining. But I can also see its major problems.

Most of the jokes in Johnny English rely on the titular character going on a series of missions under orders from MI7 to protect the world, and every single time he manages to mess it up severely. In very the rare case he makes it out without problem, but most of the time the humour follows the same basic formula of sending him on a mission which is doomed to failure before sending him into another one for some reason. It is very repetitive and a lot of the jokes are hit and miss as well as dragged out for a bit too long without enough refreshing originality to truly justify it. But people on the search for any surprises can really not expect it from Johnny English. It manages to pull it off convincingly on a mostly successful note to ensure that it stays as a serious Spy Comedy with some elements of being a parody of one. Though story originality isn't really acknowledged because the film feels more like a repetitive series if vignettes than an actual singular narrator film. And although some of them are funny, there is no real consistency in it. For me, this could be because I have watched the film over 20 times, but it is also obviously because the story isn't structured well or balanced with humour too well. It seems like director Peter Howitt wanted to make Johnny English a legitimate spy film and a parody of one but failed to find the appropriate balance to make it work. He ends up attempting to make a family friendly spy comedy which unfortunately is a little too tame for its own good.

So Johnny English certainly is not a well scripted film, and it is pretty lazy in that area. Most of the success is reliant on the visual elements of the film and more so Rowan Atkinson's talents in the titular role. Although Johnny English is over-reliant on it, it is still decent.

Johnny English is a very convincing film at least. It has some entertaining action moments and some cool chases as well, so it captures the action aspect of a spy film without skimping on its comedic tone. And it is all filmed well with some great cinematography as well as some timely editing, and all of it is against the backdrop of an effective musical score. So Johnny English has a certain level of fun to it due to its light nature and it's convincing elements which include its great locations, it's convincing production design an the quality of its visual effects. Even the addition of the cool gadgets make Johnny English seem like a fun spy venture, so it certainly had enough strong technical qualities to make it entertaining to the more juvenile audiences, and it had a catchy theme song behalf of Robbie Williams as well.

And Rowan Atkinson's lead performance does the most to determine if audiences will like the film or not. Rowan Atkinson doesn't have the same funny material from Blackadder or the same slapstick material from Mr. Bean, but the idea of him playing a spy is a very funny idea. Although the comedy in Johnny English is very repetitive, Rowan Atkinson works his best to make it seem fresh every time. And he manages to do it well because although Johnny English is not his funniest work, he doesn't imitate any of his previous work and simply makes this project one with a new character for him. Through restrained but funny line delivery which makes it feel as if the words come from his mouth naturally as well as a determined physical nature which makes him feel like a genuine spy, Rowan Atkinson works his hardest to makes Johnny English a memorable character and film. Without him, the material could not have succeeded, but because of his years of comedy experience and easy ability to work with comedic material presented to him, Rowan Atkinson takes on the lead role greatly. He is the source of practically all the comedy on the film for anyone who is able to find the feature funny, and so fans of him should hopefully enjoy his decision to take on such an eccentric role for a change. Rowan Atkinson is honestly really easily funny in Johnny English.

John Malkovich is also a great presence. The versatile actor is best known for his eccentric dramatic work, so in Johnny English it is good to see him taking on a high profile comedy role. As well as nailing his French accent and the secretly antagonistic nature of the character, John Malkovich gives a comedic edge to his line delivery which is subtle yet effective, and he has some pretty funny moments. His chemistry with Rowan Atkinson is pretty decent to, so although his character Pascal Edward Sauvage is a thinly sketched figure, John Malkovich does enough for the part so that audiences find him to be a decent casting decision.

Ben Miller and Natalie Imbruglia give fairly effective supporting efforts as well although stuck within the limitations of the script.

So although Johnny English is a clumsily written comedy which doesn't really have as much humour as it should, thanks to a stylish look and Rowan Atkinson's work in the titular role, it should hopefully do enough to entertain most of his fans.