Johnny English 2003

Critics score:
33 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Johnny English is silly enough, but why can't this clever man make a clever movie? Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: There's a lot of entertainment, especially for families, in Johnny English. Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Johnny English, despite its contemporary-sounding anti-French cracks, could easily have been made 20 years ago. Might have seemed better, and more fresh, if it had. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: [A] completely unnecessary and nearly chuckle-free spy movie spoof ... Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Johnny English may well be too specifically British, and too slight, to connect strongly with audiences, but it's a pleasant enough diversion. Read more

Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune: So abominably blah that you'll fall asleep in your popcorn. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: [Atkinson] is like a sketch-comedy troupe rolled into one body. Read more

Scott Von Doviak, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Inept and painfully unfunny. Read more

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: A comic actor of genius who raises silliness to an art form, the wonderfully expressive Atkinson makes excellent use of those devastating looks in the spy spoof Johnny English. Read more

Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle: The wildly successful Austin Powers films are a hard act to follow, and Johnny English feels like a Johnny -come-lately to the same silly party. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Atkinson carries out his spy-spoof mission with candor and grace, or as much grace as a man can maintain while satirizing the Trainspotting climb up through a soiled potty. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Delightfully daft. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The best feature based on a TV commercial I've seen all year. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Johnny English will delight those who arrive already convinced that they'll laugh uproariously at every slapstick gag and every misused word. But it won't convince the rest of us. Read more

Hazel-Dawn Dumpert, L.A. Weekly: A funny summer frolic. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: [A] lazily ingratiating spy spoof. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's all safe, predictable stuff -- so predictable that the only people who won't have things figured out 10 minutes into the film are those who left after five. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: There weren't enough good laughs for me to recommend it to anyone other than the most devoted Beanheads. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Johnny English is a tamer Austin Powers crossed with Get Smart, with very little in the way of effective humor. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Johnny English plays like a tired exercise, a spy spoof with no burning desire to be that, or anything else. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: So much of Johnny English should be funnier than it is. Read more

Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle: The spy-spoof genre is old hat ... but Atkinson is such an inventive, endearing clown that one doesn't mind. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: A tedium torture test produced with little money and less comic know-how. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: A hugely redundant spy spoof. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Rowan Atkinson is a gifted comedian. Too bad Johnny English isn't more befitting his significant talents. Read more

Derek Elley, Variety: An extremely silly but effective enough romp for family auds. Read more

Jessica Winter, Village Voice: Smug with timely zingers like 'The only thing the French should be allowed to host is an invasion,' the movie's recommended strictly for Bush advisers. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Innocuous, if dumb, fun. Read more