Genre Guesstimation – Johnny English (2003)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s Genre has been chosen by Keith of Keith Loves Movies and it is Spy/Espionage Films.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of April by sending them to ispykeith@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box! Great choice Keith!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Spy/Espionage Films.…

“A good agent doesn’t need gadgets. The only gadgets I’ve ever needed are a sharp eye, sensitive hearing and a whole bunch of bigger brains.” – Johnny English

Number of Times Seen – Twice (29 Oct 2003 and 4 Apr 2018)

Brief Synopsis – After all of Britain spies are killed in a bombing, they must rely on the only one left, a bumbling klutz named Johnny English.

My Take on it – I decided that in order to make my guest choices of the Genre for the Genre Grandeur series more personal (and expand my own personal horizons of these genres), I will take a recommendation from my guest for a film to watch for this Genre Guesstimation series.

This film was Keith’s choice for me to watch.

In theory, the concept of having Mr. Bean as a superspy sound hilarious, but unfortunately it just doesn’t work as well as one would hope.

Most of the jokes fall flat and just aren’t as funny as expected.

There are a few good scenes where Rowen Atkinson has some great Bean-ish reactions, but overall, the jokes just get tiring instead of feeling fresh and entertaining the whole time.

I’m a HUGE fan of Natalie Imbruglia’s music (especially Torn), but she isn’t the greatest actress.

Her character doesn’t do enough and it’s hard to take her seriously in the role.

I’m actually quite surprised that they made two sequels to this film, hopefully, they are much more entertaining than this one was.

Bottom Line – In theory, this film should be hilarious because it seems like a cross between Mr. Bean and James Bond, but instead it falls very short of being entertaining enough. Atkinson has some great Bean-ish scenes, but overall, the jokes just don’t work as well as one would hope. Imbruglia is a great singer, but she really does too little here and can’t be taken seriously at all.  I’m a bit surprised that they made two sequels to this film. (hopefully, they are better)

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The Johnny English character is based on a cowardly, incompetent spy played by Rowan Atkinson who first appeared in a series of television commercials for Barclaycard, with his assistant Bough (then played by Henry Naylor). The “poison dart pen” sequence is based on a scene in the commercials where Johnny shoots himself in the leg with the pen. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Not even close. English is a great idea, but Mike Myers does the spy spoof character much better and keeps things entertaining unlike here.

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (5/10)

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