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, John Malkovich, Natalie Imbruglia

6 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:

based on commercial | queen elizabeth ii character | slapstick comedy | looking at oneself in a mirror | character name as title | 

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Taglines:

Stor biograf-success! (Huge cinema-success!) [Danish]

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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

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:

Buckingham Palace, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,134,085, 20 July 2003

Gross USA:

$28,082,366

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$160,466,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, StudioCanal, Working Title Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Johnny English character is based on a cowardly, incompetent spy played by Rowan Atkinson who first appeared in a series of television commercials for Barclaycard, with his assistant Bough (then played by Henry Naylor). The "poison dart pen" sequence is based on a scene in the commercials where Johnny shoots himself in the leg with the pen.

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Goofs

Why are Klein and Vendetta still in the garage next to the Tower of London the following morning? It would seem prudent to make a very quick getaway indeed after stealing the Crown Jewels.

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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

Referenced in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #2.14 (2011)

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Soundtracks

A Man for All Seasons
Music by Hans Zimmer
Lyrics by Robbie Williams
Performed by Robbie Williams
Recording engineered and mixed by Al Clay
Co-produced by Al Clay
Courtesy of EMI Recorded Music Limited / In Good Company Co, Limited

User Reviews

Yet another movie that would have been better off without a trailer

Johnny English starts off a little bit like Bean: For some reason, wildly constructed, Rowan Atkinson ends up in a position that is far beyond his capabilities. Where Bean turns from Museum Guard to Museum curator impersonator, Johnny English turns from male Monneypenny-alike mission planner to James Bond replacement.

Sort of.

In a Bean kind of way, of course. Now that is where comparison with Bean should stop: Johnny English talks, for one thing, and doesn't just gesticulate around like a bit of a moron. And while he still causes a lot of trouble and shines in his incompetence, he manages to be far more charming and far less annoying than Mr Bean is in a 90 minute movie. Expect lots of visual humour, but also the odd moment of funny dialogue (the "making love" dialogue scene is quite hilarious)

The plot is standard Bond fare: A French tycoon is up to no good, stealing crown jewels and trying to become king of.... England, oddly enough. There is a Bond girl, played by Natalie Imbruglia and sharing more similarities with Sophie Yeoh's butt-kicking bond girl than with the more traditional damsel in distress. But unfortunately, there is no equivalent to Q, nor to M and the movie is a bit too much of a one-man show.

How does it fare then? On the laughter front it was quite satisfying, easily outmanoeuvering the once-too-often repeated Austin Powers, putting anything recent by Leslie Nielsen to shame and being an altogether fine Bond spoof. There is lots of slapstick (including the disgusting kind), but the movie manages to be less over the top and closer to Bond than to old National Lampoon / Mel Brooks movies.

Altogether the movie was pleasantly surprising - better than Bean (which isn't too hard, to be honest) and Austin Powers (although it is a different kind of spoof). Still not brilliant, but a good dose of old-fashioned entertainment. Pity the trailer gave away quite a lot of the best bits.

Plus, the bad guy was supposedly French, what more could you ask for?