This will be the shortest review on my site in quite awhile. I am fully aware that not a single one of you ever had the slightest thought in your head about seeing Johnny English Strikes Again, the third installment of the Johnny English franchise. None of you have ever seen the first two. None of you think this new one looks funny enough to spend a single second at the theater watching it. So, therefore, I'm really only writing this for myself - and I know how I felt about the movie.
Look, I'm a sucker for slapstick comedy. In 2018, that type of comedy is a rarity. There's also the rarity of the spoof movie in today's day and age. What once was a blossoming and utterly hilarious sub-genre of comedy with Airplane! and Hot Shots and even Scary Movie is all but dissipated. I saw the first Johnny English in theaters when I was fourteen years old and while it wasn't the same caliber of spoof as Austin Powers, it made me giggle like a little jerk fourteen year old would laugh at a movie like that, so I've been a fan of the series ever since. I may be 30 now, but I still have the mindset of a jerk fourteen year old.
Rowen Atkinson will always make me laugh. Of all the comics who have been accepted in American comedy from England, I've always kind of thought he was a little underrated. Everyone associates him with his Mr. Bean character, but haven't really ever seen the comedic range the man has. He was hilarious in Rat Race, he stood out in Love Actually, he created a classic character in The Lion King, and he made Johnny English funnier than it absolutely should've been.
And this new iteration - Johnny English Strikes Again is nothing new or nothing special. But, it made me giggle throughout the film like the fourteen year old I was back when I watched the first movie. So, it gets a passing grade from me. It's just nice to see Rowan Atkinson at it once more. I'll always be in a theater seat to watch his weird, goofy British antics. Though, I'll probably be alone.
B-
No comments:
Post a Comment