151, Johnny English Reborn

Its been 8yrs since Rowan donned the Tux for Johnny's first outing in 2003 and believe it or not the story, character and general daftness of the whole escapade has not dated a bit!  This is definitely a movie for Rowan Atkinson fans and if you're not a fan it will come across as pretty mediocre slapstick and probably not for you.  Love Rowan on the other hand as apparently most of the audience did when I saw it and you will be rolling about in aisles.

The original character came from a string of Barclarcard adverts starring Atkinson as a bumbling British MI7 officer abroad and caught up in many compromising eventualities, saved each time by sidekick Boff who made a stellar appearance in the original alongside Atkinson.  Boff has since long departed and our new sidekick is as together and organised as you could hope for, keeping English out of  those compromising circumstances, most of the time!

Yes, there were definitely some funny "chuckle" along moments but I am convinced I was watching this alongside the Black Adder faithful as the volume of belly laughs echoing around the multiplex seemed a little over the top for what was going on on-screen.  The "Chair" scene is one of the highlights but its the Mr Bean awkwardness of Atkinson that get you laughing along, more at him than with him but this is paired with a sense of warmth towards the character and you just want to look after him and keep him safe from the big bad nasty world he lives in.

As always, its his completely trusting outlook on life that gets him into trouble and this time he's assisted by MI7 counsellor and one time "Bond" bad girl Rosamund Pike as the unlikely romantic interest and a very overacted Gillian Anderson as the "M" character who's relationship with English does not initially get off to much of a rosy start.

Its got a lush Rolls Royce as the new gadget mobile and his unwillingness to pay any attention to Black Adder pal Tim McInnerny leads him to misuse a number of awesome gadgets with very funny results in deed.

Its more "Benny Hill" meets "Carry on Spying" than "James Bond" meets "Austin Powers" and although its got some stand out scenes its definitely not as laugh out loud funny as some of the audience made it out to be.

Maybe its just me, 2011 is a little beyond slapstick humour in the cinemas but that being said and me not wanting to be a party pooper this movie made all ages laugh from my 8yr old daughter to the grandad sitting in front of us so maybe its cheesy and predictable, maybe it is daft and pointless but it bought an audience of all ages together for 2hrs and that's noting to be sneered at.

If you saw and loved the first one then this is for you, if you hated it then this one wont change your mind.

I would say they will make a nice "2 piece" collectors box once they hit the bargain bin but as far as world changing comedies go, well there a bit far off that for me.