Mr. Bean meets Mr. Bond in Johnny English, a spy spoof that skewers the genre with Rowan Atkinson’s trademark brand of veddy-British slapstick. It’s a bit half-baked as a wannabe franchise, but Atkinson’s creation of a new screen persona is just promising enough to warrant a sequel, despite critics’ complaints that Austin Powers had already exhausted the spy-spoof’s potential. Poppycock! Atkinson’s gift for physical and, in this case, even verbal humor will surely please his devoted fans, even when a rather tepidly comedic screenplay prevents the British funnyman from reaching new heights of absurdity. As bumbling superspy Johnny English, who gains top-level MI-7 clearance after inadvertently causing a colleague’s demise, Atkinson breathes life into gags that are too familiar to earn such an amusing revival. With John Malkovich as a smarmy Frenchman determined to overthrow the British monarchy, and Natalie Imbruglia as Johnny’s comely comrade-in-arms, this slight but enjoyable comedy gives Atkinson plenty of opportunity to mug it up as only he can. –Jeff Shannon

DVD:  AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Company: Universal Studios  (2004-01-13)
ISBN: 0783274181
List Price: $14.98
Amazon Price: $3.55
Used Price: $1.88

More: continued here

Bookmark to: