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Johnny English

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For other people named John English, see John English (disambiguation).
Johnny English
Film poster
Directed byPeter Howitt
Written byNeal Purvis
Robert Wade
William Davies
Produced byTim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Mark Huffam
StarringRowan Atkinson
John Malkovich
Natalie Imbruglia
Ben Miller
CinematographyRemi Adefarasin
Edited byRobin Sales
Music byEdward Shearmur
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • 11 April 2003 (2003-04-11)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryTemplate:Film UK
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40 million[1]
Box office$160,583,018[1]

Johnny English is a 2003 British action comedy film parodying the James Bond secret agent genre. It stars Rowan Atkinson (who, two decades earlier, appeared in an unofficial James Bond film - Never Say Never Again) as the incompetent titular British spy, with John Malkovich, Natalie Imbruglia, Tim Pigott-Smith and Ben Miller in supporting roles. The screenplay was written by Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, with William Davies, and the film was directed by Peter Howitt. The film has been recognised by its tagline, He knows no fear, he knows no danger, he knows nothing. The movie grossed a total of $160 million worldwide.[1] A sequel was released in 2011.

Principal character's precursor

The character of Johnny English himself is based on a similar character called Richard Latham who was played by Atkinson in a series of British television advertisements for Barclaycard. The character of Bough (pronounced 'Boff') was retained from the advertisements though another actor, Henry Naylor, played the part in the ads. Some of the gags from the advertisements made it into the film, including English incorrectly identifying a waiter, and inadverantly shooting himself with a tranquiliser ballpoint pen.

Plot

The movie opens with Johnny English, an inept worker at British Intelligence, having a fantasy about himself as "Agent One." In this fantasy, he successfully sneaks into a building by distracting the guard dogs with squeaky-toys, knocks out the human guards with their own guns, and then successfully seduces a black-haired beauty who tries to stop his mission by pointing a gun at him.

Just as he is about to kiss her, his fantasy is abruptly interrupted when the real Agent One walks in and asks for his papers. Johnny gives them to him, promising that he has "checked personally that the submarine hatch will open." Later, the audience hears that Agent One has died because his submarine hatch "failed to open."

An explosion at the funeral of Agent One, Britain's top agent, wipes out every secret agent in the country - except English, who was overlooking the cars. Before his death, Agent One was investigating a plot to steal the Crown Jewels, so English takes over as a last resort. Together with his (far more capable) assistant Angus Bough (Ben Miller), he manages to discover the person behind the plot, the French prison entrepreneur Pascal Sauvage (John Malkovich), whose family once had a claim to the British throne.

Sauvage is a descendant of William the Conqueror, and believes that the crown should have gone to him instead of the Queen. He hatched an evil plan to steal the Crown Jewels, have an impostor replace the Archbishop of Canterbury (Oliver Ford Davies), and have himself proclaimed as King.

Meanwhile, English is strangely attracted to a mysterious woman, Lorna Campbell (Natalie Imbruglia), whom he meets at a big social event whilst guarding the centrepiece to the whole event - the Crown Jewels. He inevitably fails, and the Jewels are stolen. He knocks out a Beefeater, pretends to fight a criminal in another room, and later reports a fictitious description of the assailant to the authorities.

Later, Bough and English follow a tunnel and find the Jewels, but fail to stop the thieves. English chases their car, but follows the wrong car to a funeral. He was convinced the burial party was an act, so he makes a fool of himself, even dancing a jig on the coffin. Bough rescues him by pretending that English was an escaped asylum inmate.

Meanwhile, English reports his suspicions to the head of MI7, Pegasus (Tim Pigott-Smith), who didn't believe him. English and Bough infiltrate Sauvage's headquarters via parachute. English lands on the wrong building, abseiling the nearby but identical London Hospital, and holds several doctors and patients at gunpoint. Then, English enters Sauvage's headquarters through a back door.

English activates a DVD player, exposing Sauvage's sinister scheme. After accidentally injecting himself with muscle relaxant, he meets Lorna again, who turns out to be an Interpol agent, also on Sauvage's tail. Along with Bough, they gatecrash a party held by Sauvage. Bough and English are promptly dismissed by their superiors, as one of the henchmen reports English's antics to Sauvage, who is still a friend of English's unwitting boss. The muscle relaxant's effects had not worn off completely, making English seem somewhat inebriated.

Sauvage concludes that English knows too much and has his henchmen enter Sandringham House and force the Queen to sign a letter of abdication renouncing her family's claim to the British throne. At first, the Queen refuses to sign, even at gunpoint, but when one of her Welsh Corgis is threatened, she agrees, thus leaving the post free for Sauvage. Sauvage is informed by British officials that, as the closest surviving relative of the Queen, the position of monarch now belongs to him.

English returns to his flat in regret. However, Lorna pays him a visit, saying that the mission which he was dismissed from was reassigned to her, and persuades English to join her. They travel to France to infiltrate Sauvage's chateau, and overhear his proposal to turn the United Kingdom into a giant prison once he becomes the king. They decide to take the DVD, but because English dropped it onto a tray full of identical unlabeled disks, they take the wrong one—a surveillance video of English dancing to ABBA in his bathroom.

However, English accidentally triggers a microphone, which causes Sauvage to overhear their tactics, and guards come to seize them. They are held hostage by Sauvage, but are freed by Bough and return to England on the day of the coronation.

At Sauvage's coronation, English sneaks in with Lorna, emerges from his disguise as the English bishop in front of Sauvage and publicly accuses him of treason. Unaware that the fake Archbishop is no longer in use, English attempts to verify his claim by pulling at the Archbishop's face, believing it to be a mask.

Undeterred, he tries to expose the 'fake' Archbishop a second time. Whilst infiltrating Sauvage's headquarters earlier on in the film, English had seen a tattoo on the lower back of the original wearer of the Archbishop mask: ' Jesus is coming... look busy '. English grabs the Archbishop, turns him round and, in front of everyone at Westminster Abbey and millions of viewers worldwide, bares the Archbishop's tattoo-free buttocks. Upon realising that there is no tattoo on the Archbishop, English resorts to a final, last-ditch attempt.

He radios to Bough to tell him to play the DVD they retrieved. Bough forced the people running the event to play the DVD on the massive television screen in the Abbey, an act which results in three-quarters of the world's population watching English, in a shower cap and underpants, dancing and miming along to 'Does Your Mother Know', by ABBA. English subsequently runs away, but comes back once again and, swinging from a wire above Sauvage and the Archbishop, grabs the crown before it touches Sauvage's head.

While he is trying to prevent the Archbishop from crowning Sauvage king, he falls onto the throne, knocking Sauvage onto the floor, and is inadvertently crowned. He places Sauvage under arrest, reveals the schemes to the public, and allows the Queen to return to the throne. In return, she gives him a knighthood.

The film ends with a romantic drive up a mountain. At the top, Johnny and Lorna get romantic but Johnny accidentally presses the eject button in his car and Lorna shoots into the sky, still strapped to her seat. The credits roll as Lorna splashes into a swimming pool.

Characters

Johnny English

A ridiculously bad spy, he nevertheless manages to solve the case of the missing Crown Jewels-- though it is more due to his initial bias against the French, (and therefore Pascal Sauvage), than any true detective work.

A bumbling idiot, he makes countless mistakes and yet is shown to be extremely passionate and dedicated to his job. He takes his role as a secret agent very seriously, and when he is taken off the case, goes into depression until Lorna Campbell knocks him out of it.

He is shown to have many fantasies, the most obvious being him as a smooth-talking, womanizing Secret Agent who successfully seduces black-haired beauties like Lorna Campbell. Unfortunately, though he manages to get a couple suave lines out, he has no clue when it comes down to really dealing with women.

He is extremely good at coming up with excuses for his blunders, and never once admits that he is wrong-- choosing instead to blame his partner, Bough, lie, or to state that he meant to do whatever he did all along.

His one skill seems to be martial arts, as he successfully blocks several of Lorna's attacks when she tries to convince him to become an agent again. This is due to him consistently practicing in front of the mirror, a fact that is broadcasted live by Pascal Sauvage-- much to his embarrassment.

Lorna Campbell

A true secret agent in every sense of the word, she is mysterious, alluring, and capable. Despite wanting to "do certain things" to Johnny, (such as punch his face in), when she first meets him, she gradually starts to feel attracted to him.

She bears a striking resemblance to the woman in Johnny's fantasy in the beginning of the film, loves sushi, and drives a motorcycle. She is part of the French Intelligence, and after Johnny is dismissed from the case, it is given to her.

Pascal Sauvage

A French descendent of William the Conqueror, he believes that his family should have inherited the throne and plans to "set things right." Despite desiring to be the King of England, he visibly detests the place, and plans to turn it into the world's prison after he becomes king.

Despite being clever enough to come up with his plan and to act the part of the wronged gentleman throughout Johnny's embarrassing attempts to expose him, Pascal Sauvage eventually loses his temper in front of national television, unintentionally giving away his secret.

He has Johnny English' room bugged, and takes several DVD's of the man half-naked and prancing around in the bathroom. Though Johnny initially amuses him, Pascal gradually starts to find him annoying, and then threatening.

Angus Bough

Johnny's (far more capable) partner, he is always there to bail his friend out of trouble. When Johnny, (following a car with a fake coffin in the trunk), takes a wrong turn and ends up at a real funeral, Bough steps in and pretends that Johnny is his insane patient after he realizes the embarrassing situation the other man has put himself in. (Johnny accused the priest, grievers, and even the mother of the deceased of being actors and jigged on the coffin).

Despite the fact that Johnny continuously pins his own misdeeds on Bough, Bough never seems to lose his temper. There are several parts in the movie where it is hinted that Bough knows perfectly well that Johnny has blundered, but he allows the other agent to keep his pride. It is he who helps get Johnny and Lorna out of Sauvage's prison at the most critical moment.

Cast

Filming locations

  • Some scenes were filmed at Canary Wharf in London— indeed, the film duplicates the single real tower into two identical ones (albeit on the real site) for the fictional London Hospital and Sauvage's headquarters.
  • The scenes set in Westminster Abbey were filmed in St. Albans Abbey[citation needed]: though this connection is solely implied through the dialogue — for this footage is never intercut with footage of the real abbey's exterior. The interior (with the televisual screen hiding the St Albans organ) is clearly St Albans. The choir singing in the coronation scene is St Albans Cathedral Choir.
  • Both the exteriors and interiors in the opening credits sequence scene is Mentmore Towers.[2]
  • 'Sandringham' is Hughenden Manor.[3]
  • The exterior and interior of MI7's headquarters which English enters at the start is Freemasons' Hall, London, which is also used as Thames House (the MI5 headquarters) in Spooks.
  • The scenes where Johnny English drives into Dover, Kent along the A20 road (with Dover Castle in the background) and then enters the Port of Dover (with a "Dover Ferry Terminal" sign, Dover's Athol Terrace and the White Cliffs of Dover in the background) to catch a ferry to France, were all shot on location.
  • The exterior of Sauvage's French chateau is actually the castle atop St Michael's Mount in Cornwall.

Reception

The film received a largely mixed and negative response from critics, many of whom described it as having a formulaic, predictable narrative and meaningless, often nonsensical storyline. It currently holds a 33% approval rating on the review site Rotten Tomatoes but a 43% rating when narrowed down to top critics.[4]

Sequel

A sequel, Johnny English Reborn began filming in September 2010. A trailer was released on April 7, 2011, in which Johnny was shown to be training in Asia when MI7 calls him back to London, where an older, (but just as inept), Johnny is sent on a mission.

Soundtrack

All tracks written by Edward Shearmur and performed by London Metropolitan Orchestra unless otherwise noted.

  1. "A Man For All Seasons" (Written By Hans Zimmer, Robbie Williams) – Robbie Williams
  2. "Theme from Johnny English" (Written by Howard Goodall)
  3. "Russian Affairs"
  4. "A Man of Sophistication"
  5. "Kismet" (Written by Gay-Yee Westerhoff) – Bond
  6. "Truck Chase"
  7. "The Only Ones" – Moloko
  8. "Parachute Drop"
  9. "Pascal's Evil Plan"
  10. "Theme from Johnny English (Salsa Version)" (Written by Howard Goodall) – Bond
  11. "Off the Case"
  12. "Cafe Conversation"
  13. "Into Pascal's Lair"
  14. "Zadok the Priest"
  15. "Does Your Mother Know" – ABBA
  16. "For England"
  17. "Riviera Hideaway"
  18. "Agent No. 1"

References

  1. ^ a b c "Johnny English (2003)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2009-01-13.
  2. ^ "Johnny English filming locations". UK Onscreen. Retrieved February 7, 2010.
  3. ^ "Hughenden Manor". National Trust. Retrieved 2007-12-08.
  4. ^ "Johnny English Movie Reviews, Pictures – Rotten Tomatoes". Uk.rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
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