In recent
years, a number of small, modest, mostly comic works, many of them dealing with
the lives of working-class people in dreary provincial towns, typify the
current minor renaissance in British cinema. Within their narrative process and
despite their humorous treatment, films like The Full Monty, Little Voice,
Brassed Off, and even Trainspotting address some of the
nation’s social and economic issues, with a determined avoidance of melodrama
and without any attempt to disguise their low-budget ordinariness. Such films
may lack the graceful high spirits and stellar casts of the Ealing Studios
comedies of an earlier era, but they maintain an English tradition dating back
at least to Dickens, combining genuine social concern with sprightly humor and
a sense of the abundant native eccentricity.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Although an entirely British
production, the new Rowan Atkinson movie, Johnny
English, virtually abandons the best of both past and present, adopting
instead a glossy Hollywood look and pitching its feeble humor to the lowest
common denominator. A farrago of tired jokes and embarrassingly stereotypical
situations, the movie proceeds along one straight track, propelled by one lame
joke, all of it borne on the weak back of its inadequate star. Its dull,
predictable script provides little variety for Atkinson’s simple, limited
talents, which meld perfectly with the unimaginative direction of Peter Howitt,
the man responsible for the memorably awful Gwyneth Paltrow vehicle, Sliding Doors.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The movie began life, strangely, as
a series of television commercials for a British credit card company, featuring
Atkinson as a bumbling spy. Transformed into a feature-length motion picture, Johnny English turns out to be yet
another spoof of the James Bond films, which seems even stranger than making a
movie out of a TV advertisement. The Bond imitations and parodies date all the
way back to the 1960s and should properly have met their unlamented end long
before now — certainly the decidedly unfunny Austin Powers flicks demonstrate little more than what the
emergency rooms call heroic measures for their attempts to breathe life into a
cold corpse.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The picture, which has earned big
bucks overseas, plods along in its tedious, laborious way, following tired
formulas worn out by a score or more previous films, most of them at least
marginally superior in form and content. Atkinson, well known to a segment of
the American public from the Blackadder series shown on public television, plays Johnny English, a functionary in the
British Secret Service who daydreams about being a successful agent like the
heroic Agent One (Greg Wise). When One meets his demise on a mission planned by
English with his usual skill, and all the other operatives are blown up at
One’s funeral, again thanks to English, Johnny gets his chance to serve as
One’s successor.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Johnny’s first job, to provide
security for a special display of the Crown Jewels, naturally turns out to be a
disaster. A gang under the supervision of the usual criminal mastermind steals
the orb, scepter, crown, etc. at the height of a monarchical celebration. The chief
villain, Pascal Sauvage (John Malkovich), a Frenchman with a distant claim to
the throne, believes that his possession of the jewels, together with
threatening the Queen’s corgis, and the blessing of a fake Archbishop of
Canterbury, will enable him to be crowned King of England. So the picture turns
into a silly series of the usual pursuits, crashes, shootouts, break-ins, and
fistfights, all more or less comic in nature, as English bungles every mission
but somehow ends up foiling the plan at Sauvage’s coronation ceremony in
Westminster Cathedral.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย In keeping with Atkinson’s special
inclinations, the humor all tends to be broad and overstated. The threadbare
Bond parody — the same insistent music, the same gun, the car equipped with
manifold gadgets, the white dinner jacket, the beautiful woman, etc. —
provides only a negligible excuse for the somber jokes and graceless pratfalls.
Although considered a physical comedian, Atkinson moves without discernible
athleticism and performs only the most obvious stunts and gags. For fans of his
last movie, Bean, he includes only
one scatological turn, making his way into Sauvage’s castle via the main sewage
pipe, where, of course, he endures the mass flush of the communal toilets. The
scene pretty much sums up the film’s level of appeal and, at the same time, provides
an accurate, if tasteless, critical comment.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Contemporary English visual comedy
essentially consists of two poles of thought and action: Monty Python’s Flying Circus, featuring chinless, upper-class
Oxford twits at play, or The Benny Hill
Show, displaying the traditional music-hall, lower-class vitality and
vulgarity. Atkinson appears to imitate Benny Hill in the manner of Monty
Python, an undertaking that seldom succeeds in either direction. Johnny English lacks vivacity, wit, and
intelligence, and even its physical gags provoke no laughs. I prefer Benny Hill
or even James Bond to anything in this sad imitation.
Johnny English, starring Rowan Atkinson, Ben Miller, Natalie Imbruglia,
John Malkovich, Tim Pigott-Smith, Douglas McFerran, Steve Nicolson, Kevin
McNally, Oliver Ford Davies, Greg Wise; written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade,
and William Davies; directed by Peter Howitt. Cinemark Tinseltown; Hoyts Greece
Ridge; Loews Webster; Regal Culver Ridge; Regal Eastview; Regal Henrietta.
You can hear George and his movie reviews on WXXI-FM 91.5
Fridays at 7:20 a.m., rerun on Saturdays at 8:50 a.m.
This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2003.
