He Has No Fear. He Has No Anxiety. He Has No Inkling
I was always rather sad to see that the man who was once Edmund Blackadder had been
reduced to the imbecilic third-rate clowning of Mr Bean. Johnny English would appear to be
Rowan Atkinson's attempt to restore his comedic credibility.
Atkinson plays the eponymous Johnny English, reprising the character that first apeared in
credit card adverts on TV. The idea of a bumbling secret agent is hardly a new one, we've
seen it more times than I care to remember. The thing that makes this film interesting is
that English is almost a good agent rather than a total fool. Atkinson plays the
suave Bond-style role surprisingly well.
The plot revolves around a ludicrous concept involving the British crown. It makes no sense but
who cares. Presumably it was chosen because it was likely to appeal to those outside the
UK. This isn't a film that depends on story, this is a film that depends on gags.
Which is a shame. There are some very funny gags, including a bizarre car chase that
finally justifies installing rocket launchers in cars. However the good jokes are far too few
and spread far too thin. They are also mainly concentrated at the start of the film and the
last act descends into cheap slapstick and toilet humour.
The Johnny English concept worked very well when
one good gag supported a 30 second commercial. But no single gag can carry ten
minutes of film.
Although the movie is very much a Rowan Atkinson vehicle the rest of the cast perform
well. Ben Miller is excellent as the loyal sidekick Bob - sorry, Bough. John Malkovitch is
completely wasted as a stereotypical Frenchman with a bad accent. Natalie Imbruglia pulls
off the amazing feat of seeming to take the whole business seriously.
Johnny English certainly had potential but was let down by a weak script that needed some
serious gagging up. The result is that Atkinson succeeds but the film fails.
