A true brownout of comedic crap.By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"
On the dung heap of comedy, we should throw another corpse called "Johnny English," starring Mr. Bean, Rowan Atkinson.
I use the coprific metaphor because more than once some inept spy has to climb through a dunny to emerge covered with sewage. Such is the level of writing and the depth of imagery--a true brownout of comedic crap.
Whether Britain's number one bumbling spy can reclaim the crown jewels and its own sovereignty is the plot device; John Malkovich is the overacting French villain; the audience is the real victim. When Atkinson says in James-Bond bravado, "The word 'mistake' is not one that appears in my dictionary," I'd swear director Peter Howitt just succeeded in defining the word.
John DeSando teaches film at Franklin University and co-hosts WCBE's "It's Movie Time," which can be heard streaming at www.wcbe.org on Thursdays at 8:01 pm and Fridays at 3:01 pm.