Review of Johnny English (2003) by Rebecca H — 12 Nov 2008

Rowan Atkinson is witty and humorous as Johnny English, a surprisingly intelligent but incredibly accident prone spy, promoted after all the others are killed in one explosion (his fault). He's a likeable lead due to his own horror at his cack-handedness.

The comedy is often fresh and hilarious, but the farce is uncomfortably dragged out too much and the plot, to do with a Frenchman wanting to turn Britain into a prison, is tired and dull, spoiling what else could have been gold.

Ben Miller adds great support as sidekick Bough but is underused, Natalie Imbruglia is okay as fellow spy Lorna, but isn't given much to do other than sigh and role her eyes. John Malkovich, as usual, can't act to a horrendous standard and may just be insane, and now he has a fake French accent as the villain.

So funny and good characters, but the plot lets it down and it's far too anti-French. Still, better than you'd expect from a film based on those Barclaycard adverts. Although those adverts were funny.