|
Johnny English
Combine
an outrageous espionage plot, broad stereotypes, a rubbery
comedian, and the French, and what do you have? Naturally,
a Jerry Lewis movie.
Except
this isn't the sixties, Jerry's heyday, though Johnny English
would dearly love to evoke the period. (Robbie Williams does
what he can with the theme song.) No, this is the twenty-first
century, friends, with a need to update the rude innocence
of those bygone days with sex and poop. For our rubbery comedian,
we have the brilliant Rowan Atkinson. Brilliant in small doses,
sadly.
Trying
to spoof the spy genre, specifically Bond which lapsed into
self-parody a while ago anyway, Johnny English gets
all the right beats down. In a few places, it even manages
to lift them into funny scenes. When director Peter Howitt
gives Atkinson a chance to display his gifts as a physical
comic, such as trying to look cool and dance while on a powerful
muscle relaxant, the film starts to take on a giddy energy.
But such
scenes are strangely few and far between. Quickly, the needs
of the gossamer plot bring them back down to earth. It's a
shame, because clocking in at less than ninety minutes, this
film comedy has room for a little more film comedy.
The obligatory
car chase stretches just enough, but even then, it's more
of an interesting idea than out and out funny. English (Atkinson)
and his sidekick Bough (Ben Miller) pursue jewel thieves in
a tow truck carrying their sleek spy car, which then turns
into some daring stunt work as they try to crane the car out
into oncoming traffic. But still, there's no element in it
that would be out of place in a regular Bond film. Heck, Atkinson
has even been in one, Never Say Never Again.
 With
the presence of Bough (pronounced "Boff"), the film owes a
little to the Inspector Clouseau films, too. Actually, it's
closer to the Inspector cartoons, with Bough serving as Dou
Dou, always covering for English' mistakes with a less and
less cheerful demeanor. Because the film treats everything
outside of its lead's antics with a mundane seriousness, Boff's
willingness to serve gets less and less believable.
English's
ability to remain employed by the British secret service
also defies credulity. Then again, maybe not. When he finally
gets "taken off the case" by his superior, Pegasus (Tim Pigott-Smith),
it's only because all evidence points to prison tycoon Pascal
Sauvage (John Malkovich) as the film's villain, and for plot's
sake, nobody wants to believe it.
Of course,
for plot's sake, there are also two capers designed to throw
both the audience and English off the trail of what's really
going on. Half-way through the film, either Sauvage changes
his mind or the movie does. Only the villain's grandest of
schemes actually has any effect.
The script
by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade is full of little contrivances
that exist only to string woefully sparse gags together. Though
the film opens with English fantasizing about being a ladies'
man a la Bond (here called Agent One), Interpol agent
Lorna Campbell (Natalie Imbruglia) later finds herself fascinated
with this bumbling agent because…well…because that's what's
supposed to happen in these types of movies. Imbruglia herself
becomes the butt of a gag that's right out of Never Say
Never Again - where it then involved Atkinson.
Everyone onscreen strives mightily. Imbruglia has a strong
presence and some skill, though she's not really asked to
do much. In the thankless sidekick role, Miller looks like
a leading man trying hard not to break out. Providing either
one of the most authentic or outrageous French accents in
recent screen history, Malkovich does his best to look interested
in something more than a paycheck. It is, at least, believable
that his charm blinds people to his malevolence.
And then
there's the star. On television, Atkinson has proven over
and over what a truly gifted man he is. However, his characters
there are funny because of their basic unlikability and inevitable
comeuppance. The only time that has translated to film effectively
(and Atkinson was not the star) was in The Tall Guy
opposite Jeff Goldblum. Every vehicle designed to star Atkinson
since has translated the jerk he plays well, but makes him
a success. It may be real, but it's just not funny.
Bits
of this film may cause laughter, but viewed in its entirety,
it just grows boring. You can wait for Comedy Central to show
it twenty times next summer, and then don't catch it all at
once. It will play better that way.
Rating:
|
