Johnny English (2003)

After a sudden attack on the MI5, Johnny English, Britain's most confident yet unintelligent spy, becomes Britain's only spy.

Director:

Peter Howitt

Writers:

Neal Purvis, Robert Wade,

Stars:

Rowan Atkinson, Tasha de Vasconcelos, Natalie Imbruglia

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rowan Atkinson	...	Johnny English
Tasha de Vasconcelos	...	Countess Alexandra - Exotic Woman
Ben Miller	...	Bough, English's Sidekick
Greg Wise	...	Agent One
Douglas McFerran	...	Carlos Vendetta
Steve Nicolson	...	Dieter Klein
Terence Harvey	...	Official at Funeral
Kevin McNally	...	Prime Minister
Tim Pigott-Smith	...	Pegasus, Head of MI7
Nina Young	...	Pegasus' Secretary
Rowland Davies	...	Sir Anthony Chevenix
Natalie Imbruglia	...	Lorna Campbell
Philippa Fordham	...	Snobby Woman
John Malkovich	...	Pascal Sauvage, the Greedy Frenchman
Tim Berrington	...	Roger

Storyline

Rowan plays the eponymous lead character in a spoof spy thriller. During the course of the story we follow our hero as he attempts to single-handedly save the country from falling into the hands of a despot.

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Plot Keywords:

spy | british | crown jewels | funeral | monarch | 

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Taglines:

Prepare for British Intelligence.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for comic nudity, some crude humor and language

Details

Official Sites:

Universal

Country:

UK France USA

Language:

English French Japanese

Release Date:

18 July 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Johnny English - Der Spion, der es versiebte

Filming Locations:

Abingdon Street Car Park, Westminster, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$312,074 (Japan) (3 October 2003)

Gross:

$734,283 (Japan) (10 October 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, StudioCanal, Working Title Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The parachute drop was filmed at Canary Wharf, London.

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Goofs

During the car chase, the hearse skids round a corner in a narrow street. Tire marks can be seen on the road where it has already made the same maneuver on previous takes.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Johnny English: Ah, the Heckler and Koch G-36. Quite deadly in the right hands.

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Crazy Credits

During the end credits, we see Lorna (who was ejected from English's car in the last scene) landing in a swimming pool. Sitting beside the swimming pool is the strange-looking man that English described to his boss early in the film.

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Connections

Featured in Troldspejlet: Episode #29.13 (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Does Your Mother Know"
Written by Benny Andersson / Björn Ulvaeus
Performed by ABBA
Courtesy of Polar Music International AB/Polydor UK Limited

User Reviews

Some fun, some dull

This is one of those movies peppered with those occasional gut-busting scenes that we have come to expect with a comic actor on the order of Atkinson, but is substantially more full of a lot of disposable humor in the form of English's bumbling; for example, going to the wrong building, going up the "poop shoot," Sauvage's coronation (which is probably the best/worst example of this) etc. It comes across as strained and ultimately worthless for comic effect. I despise the kind of humor that is stretched much too far to be funny. It is so telegraphed that mid-way through the movie you can invariably anticipate exactly WHAT he is bumbling into and whatever vague humor it had is butchered. It becomes excruciating.

I would, however, enjoy seeing this turn into a screen franchise for Atkinson--IF (and this is a big IF) they give him a solid screenplay to work with. The plot and characters were all fine--even Malkovich's purposefully ridiculous French accent (and clearly John M. is slumming for a few bucks in this one)--but the movie lacked vaguely consistent humor. The bumbling James Bond-ish character is a one-noter--Atkinson would be funnier in funny SITUATIONS (I daresay mini-"Bean"-type scenes peppered throughout the movie) that are not strained to reveal merely how bumbling and stupid he can be (yes, by 15 minutes into the movie we GET how bumbling English is - don't spend the entire movie explaining it to us again and again).

Comedy is tough to write and tougher to execute on - but Atkinson has the chops to handle it. He just needs the right material. There were a few gem moments and enough "chuckle humor" to make this a worthy rental. Imbruglia is respectable as his female counterpart -- and none too tough on the eyes. She could be an excellent female lead in a franchise.