Johnny English

Johnny English is a kindhearted but inept MI7 employee, working a desk job while dreaming of being their most trusted agent. After Agent One dies in a submarine accident unknowingly caused by English, the remaining agents are killed by a bombing at Agent One's funeral, again due to English's incompetence, leaving English as the lone surviving agent capable of finishing Agent One’s mission.

Assigned to thwart a plot to steal the newly restored Crown Jewels, English meets the mysterious Lorna Campbell at the jewels' unveiling at the Tower of London. During a sudden blackout, the jewels are stolen. In the chaotic aftermath, English accidentally knocks out the deputy head of security and pretends to fight an imaginary "assailant" to cover his mistakes; he makes up a false description of the suspect to MI7 head Pegasus.

English and his assistant Angus Bough discover the jewels were removed via a hole dug beneath their display case. Following the tunnel, they confront the German thieves Dieter Klein and Klaus Vendetta, who escape in a hearse. After pursuing the wrong hearse, English gatecrashes a funeral. Bough comes to his rescue, pretending English is an escaped mental patient and posing as a doctor from the "Lunatic Response Unit".

English connects the thieves to Pascal Sauvage, a French prison entrepreneur who helped restore the jewels. Pegasus finds English’s claims absurd and warns English not to involve Sauvage, as he is his personal friend. In the car park, English and Bough are attacked by Vendetta but are unharmed. English again encounters Campbell in a YO! Sushi restaurant, recognising her pink motorcycle. Having seen her at two crime scenes, English’s suspicions deepen when her records cannot be found on any government computer.

English and Bough parachute into Sauvage's headquarters, but English mistakenly lands on an identical tower, the City Hospital. Reaching the correct building, the two learn that Sauvage, a descendant of Charles Edward Stuart, plans to make himself king, using an impostor to impersonate the Archbishop of Canterbury. Campbell arrives, revealed to be an Interpol agent tracking Sauvage. With evidence of Sauvage's involvement, English crashes a reception hosted by Sauvage but is suspended by Pegasus for his clumsy actions.

Sauvage scraps his plan to use the fake Archbishop and instead sends his minions to force Queen Elizabeth II to abdicate by threatening her corgis, causing the entire line of succession to be swept clean for Sauvage to become king. Campbell, now placed in charge of the assignment by Pegasus, visits the depressed English and convinces him to travel with her to Sauvage's French château to investigate. Eavesdropping on Sauvage's meeting with internationally renowned criminals, English and Campbell learn he plans to transform all of England into the world's biggest prison. The agents are exposed when English accidentally activates a microphone, and they are taken prisoner.

Bough rescues English and Campbell and they race to stop Sauvage's coronation. English crashes the coronation and discovers the Archbishop in attendance is genuine. Undeterred, English orders Bough to play the incriminating DVD, only to find it is footage of himself lip-syncing to ABBA's "Does Your Mother Know" in his underclothes; Sauvage had bugged English's flat. Sneaking away, English swings in to steal St. Edward’s Crown from the Archbishop. Sauvage attempts to kill English, who drops the crown. However, English falls from the wire, lands on the throne, and is crowned instead. In his singular act as king, English has Sauvage arrested and restores the Queen to the throne, simply requesting a knighthood as a reward.

Sauvage is awaiting trial for high treason, while English and Campbell drive to southern France for a romantic holiday, only for English to accidentally eject her out of his car while leaning in to kiss her. In a mid-credits scene, Lorna lands in a hotel swimming pool, where Bough is vacationing alongside a man identical to the fictitious assailant English described to Pegasus.

• Rowan Atkinson as Johnny English
• Natalie Imbruglia as Lorna Campbell, an INTERPOL agent
• Ben Miller as Angus Bough, English's partner in the field
• John Malkovich as Pascal Edward Sauvage, the main antagonist, the distant descendant of James II
• Oliver Ford Davies as the Archbishop of Canterbury
• Tim Pigott-Smith as Pegasus
• Kevin McNally as the Prime Minister
• Douglas McFerran as Klaus Vendetta
• Steve Nicolson as Dieter Klein
• Greg Wise as Agent One
• Tim Berrington as Roger
• Prunella Scales as Queen Elizabeth II
• Tasha de Vasconcelos as Countess Alexandra
• Nina Young as Pegasus' Secretary
• Sam Beazley as Elderly Man at the Hospital
• Kevin Moore as Doctor
• Jack Raymond as French Reception Waiter
• Jenny Galloway as the Foreign Secretary
• Chris Tarrant as Radio DJ
• Trevor McDonald as Newsreader

In March 2000, before the release of Maybe Baby, Atkinson signed up to star as a spoof 007, with the news becoming official.[6]

In July 2002, Johnny English principal photography commenced . The film shot for fourteen weeks, filming at Shepperton Studios, on location in London and St. Albans, and finally setting down in Monte Carlo for two days to complete filming the final scene.[7] In September 2002, it was announced that Natalie Imbruglia, who wrote the theme tune for Johnny English, would star alongside Atkinson.[8]

The character of Johnny English himself is based on a similar character called Richard Latham, who Atkinson played in a series of British television adverts for Barclaycard.[9] The character of Bough (pronounced 'Boff') was retained from the adverts though another actor, Henry Naylor, played the part in the ads. Some of the gags from the adverts made it into the film, including English incorrectly identifying a waiter, and inadvertently shooting himself with a tranquilliser ballpoint pen.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 33% based on 121 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A tame spy spoof that elicits infrequent chuckles."[13] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 51 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[14]

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

1. "A Man for All Seasons" (Hans Zimmer, Robbie Williams) – Robbie Williams
2. "Theme from Johnny English" (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)" (Howard Goodall) – Bond
11. "Off the Case"
12. "Cafe Conversation"
13. "Into Pascal's Lair"
14. "Zadok the Priest" – Handel
15. "Does Your Mother Know" – ABBA
16. "For England"
17. "Riviera Highway"
18. "Agent No. 1"

Johnny English was released on VHS on 11 August 2003 and on DVD on 13 January 2004,[15] The film was released on Blu-ray on 28 February 2012,[16] along with its sequel Johnny English Reborn. The film was released on Netflix in February 2016.[17]

A sequel, titled Johnny English Reborn, was released in October 2011. In September 2010, filming for the sequel began, seven years after the release of the original, and concluded in March 2011. The film follows Johnny English, now training in Asia after being disgraced in an earlier mission, as he attempts to foil a plot to assassinate the Chinese Premier, while a mole is found in "MI7" and English has to deal with being framed.

In May 2017, it was announced that pre-production had begun on a third film titled, Johnny English Strikes Again, which was released on 5 October 2018.

• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, a 1997 comedy film similarly lampooning the spy genre

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Johnny English

• Johnny English on IMDb
• Johnny English at AllMovie