FAILED MISSION FOR ‘JOHNNY ENGLISH’
The hit-and-miss spy spoof “Johnny English Strikes Again” is so retro that its titular character makes Austin Powers seem modern in comparison. But all this unhipness, of course, is no accident: This is a film that wears its anti-tech bent like an old James Bond wristwatch.
Rowan Atkinson, a man of many facial expressions, is back for the third time in the series about a bumbling British spook whose lack of discretion is trumped only by his disdain for cellphones, laptops and anything else that wasn’t invented before the old “Get Smart” TV show. From time to time, the movie generates some laughs, even if we wish for more of them.
During a promising setup, the identities of every spy in Britain — except for Johnny English, who is teaching “geography” at a kids’ school — are exposed after a cyber attack. The befuddled prime minister (Emma Thompson, shrill in an amusing way) is left with no choice but to leave the fate of the country in the hands of the nation’s most mediocre spy.
We’re not exactly sure what the existential threat is, beyond some vague cyber Armageddon scheme. But that’s not the point of this deadpan exercise, which wants us to laugh at English’s antiquated and clueless antics. Unfortunately, the laughs become highly intermittent, though Atkinson garners some giggles during an undercover operation at a fancy French restaurant and when a virtual-reality training session goes awry.
There is also a fun comic chemistry between Atkinson
and Olga Kurylenko, who portrays a sophisticated Russian spy named Ophelia. As Ophelia struggles to process English’s imbecilic antics, Kurylenko plays it with a straight face, bringing a welcome light touch to the proceedings.
The film often lampoons a stuck-in-the-past Britain — particularly in relation to the tech-savvy United States — but in the end, the Silicon Valley villain is no match for English, who knows just what to do with a handy laptop. In its British way, “Johnny English” is trying to be so un-ironic
that it becomes ironic.
This mission is not really accomplished, despite the movie’s occasional flourishes. The film needs better pacing, some funnier set-pieces and a dose of unpredictability. After all, retro can take you only so far, before it becomes stale.