Johnny English
Johnny English (taglined in some countries as "Little Brother of James Bond") is a 2003 spy comedy film directed by Peter Howitt and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and William Davies. It is a British-French venture produced by StudioCanal and Working Title Films, and distributed by Universal Pictures. Starring Rowan Atkinson in the title role, Natalie Imbruglia, Ben Miller and John Malkovich, it is the first instalment of the "Johnny English" film series and serves as a parody and homage to the spy genre, mainly the James Bond film series, as well as Atkinson's Mr.  Bean character. The character is also related to Atkinson's bumbling spy character from a series of adverts in the United Kingdom for Barclaycard in the 1990s. Released theatrically in the United States on 18 July 2003, the film met with mixed reviews from critics but was commercially successful and grossed $160 million worldwide against a budget of $40 million. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2003 and topped the country's box office for the next three weekends, before being overtaken by "X2". It was followed by two sequels, "Johnny English Reborn  (2011) and Johnny English Strikes Again" (2018). Plot. Johnny English is a kindhearted but clumsy MI7 employee who dreams of becoming the top and most trusted agent. After Agent One dies in a submarine accident unknowingly caused by English due to faulty access hatch codes, the remaining agents are killed by a bombing at Agent One's funeral again due to English's incompetence by two criminals working for a yet unrevealed villain, leaving English the lone surviving agent capable of finishing Agent One's mission. Assigned to thwart a plot to steal the newly restored Crown Jewels in an  event hosted by French prison owner Pascal Sauvage, 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 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 from their hideout in a hearse. After pursuing the wrong hearse, English gatecrashes a funeral and Bough pretends that he is an escaped lunatic in order to get him out of the situation. English connects the thieves to Pascal Sauvage, who helped restore the jewels. Pegasus finds English's claims absurd and warns English against getting Sauvage involved, as he is his personal friend. In a 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. English observes that the fake Archbishop has a tattoo on his bottom saying "Jesus is coming — look busy". Campbell arrives, revealing herself 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. With English having exposed his plans, Sauvage scraps his plan to use the fake Archbishop and instead sends his minions to blackmail Queen Elizabeth II into abdicating her throne 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 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 mainland Britain into the world's biggest prison. The agents' cover is blown when English accidentally activates a microphone; he attempts to steal an incriminating DVD, but unknowingly takes the wrong disc, before the two agents are taken prisoner. Bough rescues English and Campbell, and the three race to stop Sauvage's coronation. English crashes the coronation and discovers that the Archbishop is genuine, following a stint in which he exposes the Archbishop's bare bottom in the erroneous assumption that it would bear the tattoo he had observed earlier. 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, knocking Sauvage off and is crowned instead. In his first and only 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. English accidentally ejects Campbell from his car whilst attempting to kiss her, causing her to land in a swimming pool where Bough and a man matching the description of the "assailant" are on holiday. Cast. Additionally, the film's director Peter Howitt played a cameo in the film, as the man Bough threatens to play the DVD at Sauvage's coronation. Production. In March 2000, before the release of "Maybe Baby", Atkinson signed up to star as a spoof 007, with the news becoming official. 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. In September 2002, it was announced that Natalie Imbruglia would star alongside Atkinson. 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. 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. Reception. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 33% based on 122 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A tame spy spoof that elicits infrequent chuckles." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 51 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to  F scale. Soundtrack. All tracks were written by Edward Shearmur and performed by London Metropolitan Orchestra unless otherwise noted. Home media. "Johnny English" was released on VHS on 11 August 2003 and on DVD on 11 January 2004. A DVD re-release, entitled "Johnny English: Fully Loaded Edition", was released on 19 September 2011, including bonus material about its sequel "Johnny English Reborn". The film was released on Blu-ray on 28 February 2012, along with its sequel "Johnny English Reborn". The film was released on Netflix in February 2016. Sequels. 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.