This one’s for English fans only
Johnny English Strikes Again (PG, 89 mins) Directed by David Kerr Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett ★★1⁄2
Iwonder sometimes if Rowan Atkinson stares at himself in the bathroom mirror and says: ‘‘Why didn’t you come up with Austin Powers? You could have retired by now.’’
And then I think, no. The secret to Mike Myers’ enduring creation was that he was a likeable character who we actually wanted to win, whereas Atkinson’s Johnny English is always hampered by being an essentially self-loathing invention, and therefore almost impossible to love.
English is a Clouseau-ish secret agent. He is vain, idiotic, incompetent, clumsy and conceited. The gag of these films is that English’s incompetence always somehow leads to him accidentally saving the day. It has been this way for three films now, and probably will be again.
The films’ only reason to exist is Atkinson himself. Even at 63 – and he must have shares in a moisturiser company – Atkinson remains a supreme physical comic. The only time I even came close to laughing in Johnny English Strikes Back was during a scene in a nightclub, with English – pumped full of super-amphetamines – owning the dance floor with his wildly hyperactive Dad moves. It’s a shameless gag, but Atkinson makes it work in a way not many performers could.
And the scene the trailers have spoiled, of English attacking strangers on the streets of London in the belief he is in a virtual reality game, is pretty good. Again, Atkinson sells the gag through sheer effort.
Around Atkinson, Ben Miller reprises his role as assistant Bough (Miller’s scenes were cut from 2011’s Johnny English Reborn) and Jake Lacy (Love the Coopers )is suitably smarmy as the American tech billionaire who is the cookiecutter villain of the show.
Atkinson’s great friend Emma Thompson doesn’t break a sweat as a Theresa May-esque British Prime Minister, and ex-Bond woman Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace) looks credibly dismayed as the inevitable Russian agent English must team up with.
If you’re already a fan of this franchise, then Johnny English Strikes Back will deliver exactly what you want. The pace is brisk, the jokes make up for in quantity what they lack in quality and the film never resorts to sleaze to earn its laughs. Knock yourself out.