(450-word review) Rowan Atkinson is, without a doubt, the star here, which is no surprise because that's essentially the whole point of this film: a vehicle for him to show everyone else how comedy's done. He is the GOAT, after all. His acting style and manner of delivery are unmatched. And he gets the job done, but who would expect otherwise?

I first watched this film back in 2019, and while my "review" of it was only one sentence (and not even about the film itself/how I felt about it – "Johnny English is the best spy. You simply can't be better than him." – wow, that tells me much, 2019-me) but true nonetheless, I do have my rating to go off of.

It was one star more than I'm giving it now; based on it, I can ascertain that I liked it plenty in 2019. Maybe I even laughed many times. I don't remember the specifics, though, making it hard to compare my feelings back then to this time. Surface-level, it'd be a fair assumption that my feelings toward it now aren't much different, besides enjoying it slightly less/possibly a tiny less funny than on my initial viewing.

The plot is straightforward – it's as if it's not there, not a focus, which was on the comedy, in the form of revolving around Rowan Atkinson, who's fully capable of carrying and leading; in turn, that's what he does to a T. John Malkovich was an odd element, almost to the point of dragging the film down in a sense, until the end – through Pascal Sauvage's redemption as a character in my eyes when he lost it and "broke character" – his French accent sounded enough like a French accent for us uneducated folks (maybe it's just me) who can't distinguish whether some foreign accents are accurate, but something tells me it was terrible.

The second half was undeniably the best, starting with the highly skilled, highly efficient, immensely successful, no doubt – this is Johnny English we're talking about, don't you know? A hit with the ladies, a stallion in the sack (great song, by the way) – nighttime infiltration operation, with the super-strength muscle relaxant scene(s) as the MVP.

But there were good moments throughout the film: the fake fight, the funeral scene, the two video recordings of English, the hand signs, the tie getting stuck, dropping the glass/breaking the glass in half/falling onto the Foreign Secretary, the dancing, holding Pegasus' hand, the sewage pipe scene, the "unveiling" of the real Archbishop of Canterbury.

Easygoing, harmlessly effective comedy, with a dash of 'obscenity' for a general audience, who'd also, doubtlessly, love it plenty, is this film's strength, effortlessly accomplished by Rowan Atkinson.