50
All in all, Johnny English isn’t a bad effort. Rowan Atkinson is much more of a comedian than Mike Myers is, but unfortunately Myers had the spy spoof down pat.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
50
Favorably, Atkinson’s family-friendly, rubber-limbed professionalism can revitalize even the most vapid of material, which this certainly is. Anyone who has seen an episode of Black Adder can tell you that he’s leaps and bounds funnier than this sitcom-grade bauble.
50
Baltimore Sun by Chris Kaltenbach
Johnny English never builds any momentum, and Atkinson simply isn't a good enough actor to mine continued laughs from repetitive material.
63
The jokes often are corny or labored, and the story is predictable. However, Atkinson raises the movie to the level of good fun by the force of his outrageous persona and skill at physical comedy.
50
Despite its contemporary-sounding anti-French cracks, could easily have been made 20 years ago.
50
San Francisco Chronicle by Edward Guthmann
By playing the boob so brilliantly, Atkinson allows us the catharsis of recognizing our own incompetencies and lack of poise.
50
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
On its own modest terms, this romp delivers.
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Rick Groen
Once in a long while, it even comes tantalizingly close to that rarest of modern film commodities -- ribald wit.
60
Rowan Atkinson's spy spoof is wildly uneven and yet, at times, nothing less than wildly entertaining.