Johnny English (2003) 6/10

Starring : Rowan Atkinson, Natalie Imbruglia, Ben Miller, John Malkovich
Director : Peter Howitt
Running Time : 84 mins

Following the accidental death of every MI7 agent in the United Kingdom, the government are forced to call upon the aid of bumbling agent Johnny English (Atkinson) to help protect the Crown Jewels which are due to go on display. Unfortunately multi millionaire businessman Pascal Sauvage (Malkovich) has come up with a dastardly plan that involves stealing the jewels as part of his plan to take over the world.

Basically this is an extended version of the old Barclaycard adverts that Rowan Atkinson popularised in the late nineties. There's little plot, but plenty of slapstick as Atkinson gets everything wrong in his pursuit of justice. Malkovich does a reasonably convincing French accent as Sauvage, but it's hard to figure out why an actor of his calibre is in such a low budget comedy. There's the typical plot development you'd expect in a basic cop or spy thriller, with English being taken off the case half way through, but this is still worth checking out if you like Atkinson, even though the slapstick humour might grate on some viewers.

You’ll like this if you liked : The Man Who Knew Too Little