Johnny English Reborn

A disgraced British Secret Service Agent (Rowan Atkinson) is called back into the spy game when an important “human asset” refuses to work with anybody else. If there’s anything that’s worn out its welcome more than the 50-year series of James Bond movies, surely it’s all the James Bond spoofs that came with it; haven’t both those rags been just about wrung dry? Still, Atkinson is a master of his kind of schtick, and the movie is very funny in spots. But it’s only in spots; inspired gags alternate with listless stretches and misfired scenes (one long car-and-wheelchair chase flops with an embarrassing thud, but it was probably too expensive and time-consuming to do over). Gillian Anderson, Dominic West, Rosamund Pike and Daniel Kaluuya play all straight-man to Anderson with sporting professional aplomb.