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Rowan Atkinson - Johnny English - "Fun, fun, fun. A hilarious comedy."—Jim Ferguson, ABC-TV

Editorial Review of Johnny English, courtesy of Amazon.com

Mr. Bean meets Mr. Bond in Johnny English, a spy spoof that skewers the genre with Rowan Atkinson‘s trademark brand of veddy-British slapstick. It’s a bit half-baked as a wannabe franchise, but Atkinson’s creation of a new screen persona is just promising enough to warrant a sequel, despite critics’ complaints that Austin Powers had already exhausted the spy-spoof’s potential. Poppycock! Atkinson’s gift for physical and, in this case, even verbal humor will surely please his devoted fans, even when a rather tepidly comedic screenplay prevents the British funnyman from reaching new heights of absurdity. As bumbling superspy Johnny English, who gains top-level MI-7 clearance after inadvertently causing a colleague’s demise, Atkinson breathes life into gags that are too familiar to earn such an amusing revival. With John Malkovich as a smarmy Frenchman determined to overthrow the British monarchy, and Natalie Imbruglia as Johnny’s comely comrade-in-arms, this slight but enjoyable comedy gives Atkinson plenty of opportunity to mug it up as only he can. --Jeff Shannon

Funny movie quotes from Johnny English starring Rowan Atkinson

Lorna Campbell: What are you going to do, Johnny? Sit in this grotty flat feeling sorry for yourself, or are you going to get out there and save your country?
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): ...I’m going to sit in the flat.

Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): All right, so I was wrong about the Archbishop’s bottom.

Pegasus: Everything in order, English?
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): I think you’ll find it’s rather more than just in order, Sir. You are now entering the most secure place in the whole of England.

Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): A good agent doesn’t need gadgets. The only gadgets I’ve ever needed are a sharp eye, sensitive hearing and a whole bunch of bigger brains.

Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): The only thing that France is adept at hosting is an invasion.

Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Look pull yourself together, it’s only a bit of poo.

Bough: [Bough and Johnny fall down a large hole]Are you all right, sir?
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Yes, I landed on something soft.
Bough: That was me, sir.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Ah. Good.

Lorna Campbell: I can’t hear anything.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): I’m into ultrasonic.

Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): [Johnny has just been accidentally crowned King]Arrest that man! And lock him away!
[crowd cheers]

[Johnny and Bough are in a dark tunnel]
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): It may be pitch black, but we can still see.
Bough: Can we, sir? How?
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): The Bedouin monks of the Al Maghreb mountains developed a system of sonic chanting.
Bough: I see, sir.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): The sound of their chanting would bounce back off any obstacles, and using their highly tuned ears they could paint a mental picture of the path ahead.
Bough: Brilliant, sir.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): However, you must always sing in E-flat.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): [singing] Thank you for the music / The songs I’m singing
Bough: Is it working, sir?
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Extremely well, thank you, Bough.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): [singing] Thanks for all the joy that…
[Johnny hits the tunnel wall]
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Ow!

[first lines]Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Ah, the Heckler and Koch G-36. Quite deadly in the right hands.

Lorna Campbell: [seeing Sauvage the Frenchman standing just behind English, who thinks that he’s just another waiter in the party; not knowing that it’s truly Sauvage, who also listens to everything they say] You obviously haven’t met our host, Monsieur Savage.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): No, thank God! You know, I think I’d rather have my bottom impaled on a giant cactus than exchange pleasantries with that jumped-up Frenchman. As far as I’m concerned, the only thing the French should be allowed to host is an invasion.
[he chuckles, then attemps to take a drink out of his glass, but just then notices Sauvage standing right behind him, not realizing that it’s actually him instead of just one of the waiters, who even just heard his insult]
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): [looking over at him] Sorry, can I help?
Pascal Sauvage: [into English’s face] Pascal Sauvage. [then faces and reaches his hand out to shake Ms. Cambell’s hand]
Pascal Sauvage: The jumped-up Frenchman.
Lorna Campbell: Lorna Campbell. I’ve been so looking forward to meeting you.
Pascal Sauvage: Enchanté.
[English is now looking dumbstruck and stammering in embarrassment]
Pascal Sauvage: Of course, you are Johnny English. I’ve heard all about you.

Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Do you or do you not have tattooed on your bottom the words “Jesus is coming, look busy”?
Archbishop of Canterbury: Are you insane?
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Well, let’s find out, shall we?

Pegasus: It’s an unmitigated disaster, English.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): I couldn’t agree more, sir.
Pegasus: Well, we need to get these jewels back, English, and fast. Now tell me about this assailant. Because when they searched the room later, there was no sign of him.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Well, the man was clearly a professional. He must have escaped while the Queen was being sedated.
Pegasus: But he’s the only lead we’ve got, English. We have to find him. Now, come in. This is - This is Roger from Data Support. Please sit down. He’ll produce a likeness based on your description. So tell us, what did this man look like?
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Um… Well… He was… big.
Roger: Hair colour?
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Um… orange.
Pegasus: Orange?
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Mmm. And curly. Well, frizzy, actually. Frizzy sort of thing.
Roger: Frizzy.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): An eye patch. Broken nose. Very few teeth. Two, I would say the most. And a scar on his cheek in the shape… of a banana.
Roger: Which cheek?
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Both cheeks. They sort of met in the middle.
Pegasus: Are you sure about this, English?
[Pegasus shows him what Roger has done on his computer of the assailant Johnny had described and he gasps]
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Oh, yes, that’s him. An uncanny resemblance. Why, it’s just as if he’s in the room with us.

Pascal Sauvage: English has seen too much. We go to plan B. Get rid of the fake archbishop and greenlight the visit to Her Majesty and then this pathetic country can humiliate itself by crowning me officially.

Lorna Campbell: Get your car keys. We’ve got work to do.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): Miss Campbell.
Lorna Campbell: Sauvage is heading back to his chateau in France and he’s invited 13 of the richest criminal masterminds in the world to meet him there.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): I’m sorry, Miss Campbell. I’m off the case. It’s been reassigned.
Lorna Campbell: I know. Reassigned to me.

Carlos Vendetta: That’s a letter of abdication renouncing your claims to the throne and the claims of your entire family. Sign it.
[the Queen reads the abdication sign and puts her pen down]Queen: Never.
[Vendetta picks up the Queen’s dog and threatens to shoot it. The Queen solemnly signs the abdication note]

Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): My *bottom* will be king of England before you are.

Pegasus: We can’t afford any mistakes, English, not tonight.
Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson): The word “mistake”, Sir, is not one that appears in my dictionary.

Trivia for Johnny English (2003) starring Rowan Atkinson

The Johnny English character is based on a cowardly, incompetent spy played by Rowan Atkinson. The character, with his assistant Bough (played by Henry Naylor), first appeared in a series of television commercials for Barclaycard.
The “poison dart pen” sequence while English is waiting outside Pegasus’ office was first used in the Barclaycard commercials that spawned the character. In the commercial, Atkinson’s character shot himself in the leg with the pen.
Two of the writers of the screenplay (Neal Purvis and Robert Wade) previously worked on three James Bond films
- Die Another Day (2002)
- The World Is Not Enough (1999)
- Casino Royale (2006)
The band playing in the background at Sauvage’s party are called Bond.
The news broadcast at the end of the film claims that high treason still carries the death penalty. In fact, since the coming into force of the Human Rights Act 1998 in 2000, the United Kingdom abolished capital punishment completely.
Director Peter Howitt makes a cameo appearance as the man that Bough threatens to play the DVD at the crowning ceremony.
The car that Johnny English uses is an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage
The parachute drop was filmed at Canary Wharf, London.
At one point, English mentions a singing technique to find his way through a darkness, which he states has to be in E-flat. He then starts to sing at a seemingly random pitch - which is actually a B.
The song that Johnny dances to in the DVD which he accidentally plays in front of the whole world is “Does Your Mother Know” by Abba.