Johnny English (2003)

Director:

Peter Howitt

Writers:

Neal Purvis (written by) &
Robert Wade (written by) ...

Release Date:

18 July 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

Stor biograf-success! (Huge cinema-success!)

Plot:

Rowan plays the eponymous lead character in a spoof spy thriller. During the course of the story we...

Plot Keywords:

British | Spy | Crown Jewels | Funeral | Secret Service

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Johnny English (France)
Johnny English: Rogue Male (UK) (working title)
Touch of Weevil (UK) (working title)
Johnny English (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Johnny English - Der Spion, der es versiebte (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Агент Джонни Инглиш (Russia) [ru]
Johnny English (Brazil) [pt]
Johnny English (Greece) [el]
Johnny English (Germany) [de]
Johnny English (Canada: French title) [fr]
Johnny English (Czech Republic) [cs]
Johnny English (Finland) [fi]
Johnny English (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Johnny English (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

MPAA:

Rated PG for comic nudity, some crude humor and language.

Runtime:

UK:88 min | USA:87 min

Country:

France | UK

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | Ireland:PG | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Brazil:Livre | Canada:PG | Finland:K-7 | Germany:6 (bw) | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:All | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Zurich) | Switzerland:10 (canton of the Grisons) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Brocket Hall, Lemsford, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Working Title Films

Trivia:

The car that Johnny English uses is an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage

Goofs:

Anachronisms: At the end of the movie, newsreader Trevor McDonald says that Sauverge was charged with "high treason", a crime "still punishable with the death penalty under UK law". On 31 July 1998, high treason and piracy with violence ceased to be capital crimes. On 27 January 1999, the Home Secretary (Jack Straw) formally signed the 6th protocol of the European Convention of Human Rights in Strasbourg, on behalf of the British government formally abolishing the death penalty in the UK.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Knight of the Living Dead (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Only Ones

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.