Johnny English

A bumbling British secret agent (Rowan Atkinson) confronts a French tycoon (John Malkovich, having fun with an atrocious Pepe Le Pew accent) who is out to usurp the British throne. The most interesting thing about this umpteenth James Bond spoof will be incomprehensible (and probably uninteresting) to most Americans: The story (written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and William Davies) taps into what some commentators have seen as a deep suspicion of the European Union among the British public. But over here, who cares? The question for Americans is: Is it funny? Answer: No, it’s not. How could it be? Every possible laugh was wrung out of this idea several decades ago, and then the Austin Powers movies drove them deep into the ground. Now, Atkinson comes along to do it all again, as if no one ever had.