Johnny English Strikes Again. (PG.)
Directed by David Kerr.
Starring Rowan Atkinson, Ben Miller, Olga Kurylenko, Jake Lacy, Adam James and Emma Thompson. 89 mins.
I'm not sure anyone was waiting desperately for a third Johnny English instalment but it's here anyway and it's a lot of fun. Rowan Atkinson I think has two things going for him. First, he spaces his projects out so it's always a bit of a surprise to see him again, a bit of a surprise to remember that he is a bit funnier than you remember. Second, he's just about the only clown people aren't terrified of.
English 3 has a nice balance between kid-friendly silliness and smarter jokes: English has to sign a health and safety form before his equivalent of Q will hand over a gun; there is a car chase using a dual control learner driver car and a clever visual gag with magnetic boots walking up the side of a ship.
There are probably more Bond spoofs than there are actual Bond films and Johnny English, which started out as a Barclays Bank advert some two decades ago, seems a little more loving of the genre than most. I think Atkinson, who was comic relief in Connery's Never Say Never Again, really loves the fast cars, gadgets and tuxedos, and if doing a some gurning and a few pratfalls is the price for getting to play with them he is more than willing to pay it.
Directed by David Kerr.
Starring Rowan Atkinson, Ben Miller, Olga Kurylenko, Jake Lacy, Adam James and Emma Thompson. 89 mins.
I'm not sure anyone was waiting desperately for a third Johnny English instalment but it's here anyway and it's a lot of fun. Rowan Atkinson I think has two things going for him. First, he spaces his projects out so it's always a bit of a surprise to see him again, a bit of a surprise to remember that he is a bit funnier than you remember. Second, he's just about the only clown people aren't terrified of.
English 3 has a nice balance between kid-friendly silliness and smarter jokes: English has to sign a health and safety form before his equivalent of Q will hand over a gun; there is a car chase using a dual control learner driver car and a clever visual gag with magnetic boots walking up the side of a ship.
There are probably more Bond spoofs than there are actual Bond films and Johnny English, which started out as a Barclays Bank advert some two decades ago, seems a little more loving of the genre than most. I think Atkinson, who was comic relief in Connery's Never Say Never Again, really loves the fast cars, gadgets and tuxedos, and if doing a some gurning and a few pratfalls is the price for getting to play with them he is more than willing to pay it.
