Customer Reviews

Johnny English (Widescreen Edition)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(53)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Listen all you adult-aged reviewers, let's loosen up here. This movie is not for movie connoiseurs. This movie is for getting laughs. And if you insist on holding a prissy, stuck-up attitude then you just won't have a good time, period.

Us pursed-lip adults sometimes have to relax, let our facial muscles go(lower those eyebrows, unfurrow the forehead, unpurse our lips, and unclench our jaws) and let humor, even slapstick humor, get the best of us. Some of us are so full of our previous knowledge of movie-viewing or Mr. Bean and Atkinson material("I saw this and I saw that and this movie just ain't as blablabla" or "Atkinson ain't as good in this as in yadayada...").

Children don't care about the history of movies and Atkinson tv series. Watch kids enjoy this movie. They know how to have a good time in the moment. My kids were in stitches over Atkinson's antics and all his facial expressions.

My husband got a good share of laughs, sometimes to the point of tears---and it is good to see my husband laugh even if it is over Johnny English. Myself? I have to admit I laughed too. And how could I not enjoy myself with my kids dancing around during Rowan's little mini music video with his toothbrushes in the shower? We rewinded the movie 3 times just to watch that part over and over again. Little children don't get tired of rewinding their favorite parts, you know. One son said we should keep on replaying it until he memorized the song lines. (I insisted we didn't rewind as far back as the unveiling of the Archbishop, though it was their other favorite part of the movie).

Leave the movie critic behind you. Watch the movie for laughs. Have a good time viewing it with kids or adults. Don't resist the humor. Relax, enjoy, and let yourself just laugh for humor's sake.

... the offspring was Johnny English. Rowan Atkinson delivers another incredibly funny performance as the secret agent who can't do anyhting right and still manages everytime to save the day. Script writers were right on target when they decided to create Johnny English resembling Atkinson's most known character: Mr. Bean. It's all there: the funny faces, the stupid situations, the babbling, the confusion. If you are aquainted with Mr. Bean, you've already seen it all, but you're going to laugh again.

I said there are stupid situations, but the movie is not stupid at all. Extremely well produced, with the classy kind of humor that doesn't need any swearing. Every scene contains an intelligent joke; in fact, only once I found a joke I didn't like. There are some memorable scenes that made me laugh even on my way back home.

Rowan Atkinson is, obviously, perfect for the character, and it was in fact written for him. He does a splendid job, but he will be forever stigmatized as a "Mr. Bean" actor, even if there were times when I could glimpse him as a more serious actor.

Natalie Imbruglia surprised me as the mandatory pretty girl in spy movies. She doesn't let the viewer down. John Malkovich once again as the villain, this time as the effeminate frenchman trying to accomplish a strange evil plan on england. In fact, the mere presence of Malkovich in the cast is proof of a good production. Ben Miller did a good job as well as Johnny English's sidekick.

"Johnny English" is a perfect movie in the genre it was purposed to be: hard-laughing, above-average-intelligence comedy. 90 minutes of fun.

Grade 9.0/10

This film has already been released here in Colombia, which is weird since usually films arrive here late rather than before they are released in U.S.A. I saw two days ago and well, I have a things to say to the audiences from the states. You could say this film is a mixture between Naked Gun, Bean and Austin Powers. One thing I found negative about it is that it copies jokes from various comedies, I don't want to be a spoiler so I won't say which, but some of the jokes will seem very familiar. But the good thing about it is that is not a waste of a film, and Rowan Atkinson proves that he can also be funny talking. I think he did quite well as the other James Bond spoof. He is not as exagerated as Mike Myers, so this film is different. And he managed to stay away from the Bean persona, something I was afraid of. The plot is as simple as Bond plots are today, only with various comedy twists. Johnny English starts as Monneypenny, he is just a in this particular film, MI7 clerk, until every agent is wiped off(funny situation that will not be revealed here) so he has to take on the biggest mission that was pending, which involves the crown jewels and a french tycoon in the sort of Goldfinger played by John Malkovich, who did his best to perform the character with dignity, and I think he escapes from stinking by the fingernails. The film is carried out just like Bond movies, the agent meets the girl, the villan, something happens, he gets close to something, he fails, he gets close to the girl, the bad guy almost makes it, but fails and gets busted, endind with the agent and the girl. Very straightforward, but every situation is filled not to the brim, which I think was the smart thing to do, with funny situations. And although many of the jokes are rip-offs, Atkinson managed to make them his own. The film is very short, but feels longer, I don't know why. The end is rather stupid, but I admit that it stirrs laughter, not because of the situation but because you can't help but crack up with Atkinson's face. I don't think many people will like, unlike the Bean skits and the film, I think some will find it stupid and unnecessary, but nevertheless, I think is a fun movie, and if somehow people get tired of or don't want to see either Matrix Reloaded, or Hulk, or X2, or T3, or any of the other box-office killers, try to tke about and hour and twenty minutes to see a silly but funny little comedy that spoofs James Bond. I don't think it will be a hit, and if it is, oh the humanity, because it's far from being great, but it's worth the money, specially in summer vacation when there is basically "nothing" to do. See all of the other summer pop corn movies before this one, otherwise you will probably hate it beacuse you could have seen something else. But it won't be a total waste of money, you will laugh because it's not at all a stupid teen flick with disgusting sexual situations and fluids, sounds and smells. It has it it's own very silly and simple way, integrity and dignity, it's hard to find, but it is there. One star for Atkinson's performance, the other for being balance in it's jokes, the other because it doesn't fall apart like many comedies, in stupidity and desperate necesity for a laugh, and the last one because it basically does not totaly stink.

Johnny English is unashamedly a spoof on the James Bond series of movies, and hilarious with it! Movie promo "He Knows No Fear. He Knows No Danger." He Knows Nothing. Rowan Atkinson delivers a very controlled performance of a character which is a hybrid between TV's 'Mr Bean' and his Insp. Raymond Fowler in the 1995/96 BBC television series 'The Thin Blue Line'. Johnny is attached to MI5 and believes he has the suave, debonair Bond persona, even to the point of having all the Bond gadgets and driving an Astin Martin sports car. In reality he is a bumbling idiot, adept at using the wrong gadgets and making the wrong decisions. The role may have been created just for Atkinson and indeed, it is hard to imagine anyone else playing Johnny English with such finess. The obligatory love interest is provided by Natalie Imbruglia (Australian singer/actress) as Lorna Campbell, the vixen, or is she? The villain of the piece is John Malkovich as a scheming Frenchman, Pascal Sauvage, who has a penchant for the Crown Jewels and is the object of Johnny's disaster laden adventure. Ben Miller is a brilliant foil for Atkinson's comedy, at times providing his own brand of hilarity in the role of Bough, the offsider to Johnny English. This is 90 minutes of sheer fun and provided the cinema audience here with some of the best comedy in years. Predictable but a most hilarious romp.

Poor Johnny English (played by Rowan Atkinson), a minor functionary in Britain's MI-7, dreams of being a super-spy. His big chance comes, though, when all of Britain's spies are killed at a funeral - a funeral where Johnny is providing the security. Promoted to Agent One, he is assigned to guard the Crown Jewels, which are promptly stolen. But, Johnny knows just who is behind it all - Pascal Sauvage (John Malkovich). Sauvage plans on being the first French king of England since 1066, and only one man stands in his way, Johnny English. But, certainly such an incompetent need not be taken seriously, right? [Color, released in 2003, with a running time of 1 hour, 28 minutes.]

My family and I saw this movie in the theater, and we loved it. Now we have seen it on DVD, and we still love it! There's a lot of explosions and gunfire, as you would expect from a spy thriller, and lots of goofy Rowan Atkinson humor. A nice thing is that it is mostly clean (though there is a bunch of toilet humor, and a man's naked backside features prominently in one scene), with no gratuitous sex.

Now, as to the humor - well, some like it and some don't, I don't know what to say. I am a great fan of Mr. Bean and the Blackadder stories, and absolutely loved this movie. (As an added bonus, there are two ABBA songs that appear in this movie!) So, let me just say this, this is a great movie, with a lot of goofy humor. Perhaps it is not a work of art, but it is a wild and funny ride!

Rowan Atkinson is very funny in this "Mr Bean meets James Bond" comedy. Plenty of pratfalls and camera mugging together with the inevitable English toilet humor. And I mean TOILET humor literally! The ever-popular "take over the world" plot is given a slight twist thanks to the twisted characterisation of John Malkevich (alias Pascal Sauvage)and his droll patience with the inept Johnny English's attempts to thwart his plans make for some head-shaking chuckles. This is a film that all the family can enjoy and the kids are especially tickled by Johnny English's ability to rise above his own ineptitude. Lots of belly laughs and good fun.
(Based on the theatrical release in Australia)

Just to see Rowan A's facial expressions change from a bumbling insincere 'oaf' to the smooth and deboniare 'James Bond' Johnny English is to appreciate a master at work. It certainly is an art ......


Not since Peter Sellers' Pink Panther days has anyone been able to take his place and really make the audience outright laugh rather than just groan at cheap Saturday Night Live type dumb dumb humour ...


Loved this movie and it's worth every penny ....

A hilarious movie that one can watch with a family and not worry about the profanity or vulgarity so common these days. Rowan Atkinson did a wonderful job.

WOW. I was laughing my rear off! Rowan Atkinson (star of Mr. Bean) returns to make you laugh even more.

This is Rowan Atkinson at his best! He certainly knows how to make a laugh-outloud parody of James Bond and Austin Powers.

Move over Roger Moore and Sean Connery, Johny English is taking over. With the debonair of a true gentleman, Mr. Bean, I mean Johny joins forces with Bob and a hot little British tart. Together they thwart a Frenchmen's attempt to become King of England and transform the entire island into a prison for the world's criminals.

Johny helplessly bumbles his way through this movie as only he can. A high speed chase through the streets of London between a hearse and a tow truck, the take over of a hospital and its innocent patients, a five story climb up a sewer pipe leading directly to a bum troff, and finally being crowned King himself!

It must be hard to be a secret agent, you have to keep track of your truth serum and knockout gas, the knowledge to correctly assemble your sidearm, and most of all you must know who is an imposter and who is not. If you claim that a man has `Jesus is coming...look busy' tattooed across his bum, you better be sure.

The best British humor since Benny Hill.