Psycho's Movie Reviews #401: Johnny English (2003)

Johnny English (taglined in some countries as "Little Brother of James Bond") is a 2003 spy comedy film directed by Peter Howitt and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and William Davies. It is a British-French venture produced by StudioCanal and Working Title Films, and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Starring Rowan Atkinson in the title role, Natalie Imbruglia, Ben Miller and John Malkovich, it is the first instalment of the Johnny English film series and serves as a parody and homage to the spy genre, mainly the James Bond film series, as well as Atkinson's Mr. Bean character. The character is also related to Atkinson's bumbling spy character from a series of adverts in the United Kingdom for Barclaycard in the 1990s.

Released theatrically in the United States on 18 July 2003, the film met with mixed reviews from critics but was commercially successful and grossed $160 million worldwide against a budget of $40 million. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2003 and topped the country's box office for the next three weekends, before being overtaken by X2. It was followed by two sequels, Johnny English Reborn (2011) and Johnny English Strikes Again (2018).

Plot

Johnny English is a kind-hearted but clumsy MI7 employee who dreams of becoming the top and most trusted agent. After Agent One dies in a submarine accident unknowingly caused by English due to faulty access hatch codes, the remaining agents are killed by a bombing at Agent One's funeral again due to English's incompetence by two criminals working for a yet unrevealed villain, leaving English the lone surviving agent capable of finishing Agent One's mission.

Assigned to thwart a plot to steal the newly restored Crown Jewels in an event hosted by French prison owner Pascal Sauvage, English meets the mysterious Lorna Campbell at the jewels' unveiling at the Tower of London. During a sudden blackout, the jewels are stolen. In the aftermath, English accidentally knocks out the deputy head of security and pretends to fight an imaginary "assailant" to cover his mistakes; he makes up a false description of the suspect to MI7 head Pegasus.

English and his assistant Angus Bough discover the jewels were removed via a hole dug beneath their display case. Following the tunnel, they confront the German thieves Dieter Klein and Klaus Vendetta, who escape from their hideout in a hearse. After pursuing the wrong hearse, English gate-crashes a funeral and Bough pretends that he is an escaped lunatic in order to get him out of the situation.

English connects the thieves to Pascal Sauvage, who helped restore the jewels. Pegasus finds English's claims absurd and warns English against getting Sauvage involved, as he is his personal friend. In a car park, English and Bough are attacked by Vendetta but are unharmed. English again encounters Campbell in a YO! Sushi restaurant, recognising her pink motorcycle. Having seen her at two crime scenes, English's suspicions deepen when her records cannot be found on any government computer.

English and Bough parachute into Sauvage's headquarters, but English mistakenly lands on an identical tower, the City Hospital. Reaching the correct building, the two learn that Sauvage, a descendant of Charles Edward Stuart, plans to make himself king, using an impostor to impersonate the Archbishop of Canterbury. English observes that the fake Archbishop has a tattoo on his bottom saying Jesus is coming — look busy. Campbell arrives, revealing herself to be an Interpol agent tracking Sauvage. With evidence of Sauvage's involvement, English crashes a reception hosted by Sauvage but is suspended by Pegasus for his clumsy actions.

With English having exposed his plans, Sauvage scraps his plan to use the fake Archbishop and instead sends his minions to blackmail Queen Elizabeth II into abdicating her throne by threatening her corgis, causing the entire line of succession to be swept clean for Sauvage to become king. Campbell, now placed in charge of the assignment by Pegasus, visits English and convinces him to travel with her to Sauvage's French château to investigate. Eavesdropping on Sauvage's meeting with internationally renowned criminals, English and Campbell learn he plans to transform all of mainland Britain into the world's biggest prison. The agents' cover is blown when English accidentally activates a microphone, and they are taken as prisoners.

Bough rescues English and Campbell, and the three race to stop Sauvage's coronation. English crashes the coronation and discovers that the Archbishop is genuine, following a stint in which he exposes the Archbishop's bare bottom in the erroneous assumption that it would bear the tattoo he had observed earlier. Undeterred, English orders Bough to play the incriminating DVD, only to find it is footage of himself lip-syncing to ABBA's "Does Your Mother Know" in his underclothes; Sauvage had bugged English's flat. Sneaking away, English swings in to steal St Edward's Crown from the Archbishop. Sauvage attempts to kill English, who drops the crown. However, English falls from the wire, lands on the throne, knocking Sauvage off and is crowned instead. In his first and only act as king, English has Sauvage arrested and restores the Queen to the throne, simply requesting a knighthood as a reward.

Sauvage is awaiting trial for high treason, while English and Campbell drive to southern France. English accidentally ejects Campbell from his car whilst attempting to kiss her, causing her to land in a swimming pool where Bough and a man matching the description of the false assailant are on holiday.

Production

In March 2000, before the release of Maybe Baby, Atkinson signed up to star as a spoof 007, with the news becoming official.

In July 2002, Johnny English principal photography commenced . The film shot for fourteen weeks, filming at Shepperton Studios, on location in London and St. Albans, and finally setting down in Monte Carlo for two days to complete filming the final scene. In September 2002, it was announced that Natalie Imbruglia would star alongside Atkinson.

The character of Johnny English himself is based on a similar character called Richard Latham, who Atkinson played in a series of British television adverts for Barclaycard. The character of Bough (pronounced 'Boff') was retained from the adverts though another actor, Henry Naylor, played the part in the ads. Some of the gags from the adverts made it into the film, including English incorrectly identifying a waiter, and inadvertently shooting himself with a tranquilliser ballpoint pen.

Filming Locations

• Some scenes were filmed at Canary Wharf in London—indeed, the film duplicates the single real tower into two identical ones (albeit on the real site) for the fictional London Hospital and Sauvage's headquarters at 1 Canada Square.

• The scenes set in Westminster Abbey were filmed in St. Albans Abbey: though this connection is solely implied through the dialogue—for this footage is never intercut with footage of the real abbey's exterior. The interior (with the televisual screen hiding the St Albans organ) is clearly St Albans. The choir singing in the coronation scene is St Albans Cathedral Choir.

• Both the exteriors and interiors in the opening credits sequence scene are in Mentmore Towers.

• The exterior and interior of MI7's headquarters which English enters at the start is Freemasons' Hall, London, which is also used as Thames House (the MI5 headquarters) in Spooks.

• The scenes where Johnny English drives into Dover, Kent along the A20 road (with Dover Castle in the background) and then enters the Port of Dover (with a "Dover Ferry Terminal" sign, Dover's Athol Terrace and the White Cliffs of Dover in the background) to catch a ferry to France, were all shot on location.

• The exterior of Sauvage's French château is actually the castle atop St Michael's Mount in Cornwall.

• The scenes in Brompton Cemetery were filmed there.

Soundtrack

All tracks were written by Edward Shearmur and performed by London Metropolitan Orchestra unless otherwise noted.

{The theme is good, it's one you forget about but it's gooood}

Release/Reception/Box Office

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 33% based on 122 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A tame spy spoof that elicits infrequent chuckles." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 51 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Budget $40 million

Box office $160.5 million

My Review

Supposedly the British version to the ever successful "Naked Gun" trilogy (yes, THOSE movies with Leslie Nielsen), Johnny English goes beyond the usual butt jokes of normal spy spoof movies and takes a look at the world of espionage through the eyes of a nobody - namely Mr. English himself.

Rowan Atkinson is without a doubt one of the masters of British humour. Forever remembered for his role as Mr. Bean, he does excellently to play Johnny English, as a bumbling spy who contradicts himself, collapses the simplest of plans and makes a complete idiot of himself - all in a good cause. English is seen replacing a deceased British spy, who was in a case to uncover the attempt to rob the Crown Jewels of England. English's "anti-French like" behaviour plays a vital role in the movie, as he uncovers the mastermind behind the plot - one Pascal Sauvage (played handsomely by John Malkovich).

Wherever English goes, he doesn't leave without his trusty sidekick, Bough (played by Ben Miller). Miller does well in his debut frontline role as the clever and more wise Bough. I really see big things for him in Hollywood. As for the wonderful singer Natalie Imbruglia (who plays undercover spy Lorna Campbell), she dazzles the audience with her kick-ass attitude and her sophisticated wit. Not bad for a debut role! But as ever, Atkinson steals the show with his bumbling plans, his idiocy and his humour in an attempt to save England and all its citizens. The film has its fair share of memorable scenes and punchlines, nonetheless the ending where Johnny and Lorna share a passionate embrace only for English's elbow to accidentally hit the ejector seat button and shoot Ms. Campbell high into the sky!!!

Johnny English is a great comedy that makes fun of virtually every aspect of super spy thrillers, from the car to the female secret agent who eventually falls in love with the protagonist. The movie concocts a ludicrous plot as a vehicle for the gags that will ensue, and it integrates these gags into the plot quite well. They got the right man for the job, too. Rowan Atkinson is excellent at portraying the completely incompetent Johnny English, who's sidekick, Boff is actually a better agent than he is. Yes I know, the whole sidekick-better-than-hero thing has been used before, but without Boff, the plot probably would have never advanced because English fumbles literally EVERYTHING he does on assignment. So Boff is to just move the film along while English's job in this film is to provide the laughter.

One of the things that makes Johnny English such a great spy spoof is because the character himself, at first glance, looks and acts like he's a real secret agent, unlike Austin Powers who looks and behaves like an idiot. English is serious about doing his job, and very confident that he's the best, which is why when he screws up everything its hilarious to see how he reacts and tries to correct his mistakes. One great part is (Spoilers) how he never, ever fires his gun because every time he does, it breaks! The mood of one of those scenes is great. English is being fired at by a thug, and this fast, action packed music plays. The whole thing plays out like your standard Hollywood gunfight, then when English leans out to fire, the top slide of his gun falls off, yet the action music keeps playing.(End of spoiler)

Another excellent aspect of Johnny English is how many of the gags carry over in several scenes. This means that a lot of the gags in the movie don't just come and go; they will have some significance later in the movie that will add to the hilarity. Finally, Johnny English is also an excellent comedy because it never has to rely on sex jokes, which in many films these days, are not so subtle because they're so effortlessly made, yet they make the general audience roar with laughter. Johnny English uses some clever, original jokes that are extremely funny. Many will not like this film because it lacks sex jokes, and will simply dismiss it as being corny (which is ridiculous), but if you like a great spy spoof starring Mr. Bean himself, this is truly excellent.

As spoof movies go, Johnny English is a marvel. It is probably the best film Rowan Atkinson has made so far, and probably the best since the "Naked Gun" trilogy. I loved it so much, I would recommend anyone to see this movie. If the Americans welcome it with open arms in the Summer, I shall be a very happy bunny! 9.7/10

{I remember watching this film with my friend, and when this scene happened we were rolling around on the floor with laughter}