MOVIE REVIEW - Johnny English Reborn

You know, Rowan Atkinson can be a funny man. He has a very distinct style that in the right setting can be pretty darn funny. His new movie, Johnny English Reborn may not be quite that setting.

JER is Atkinson's attempt at lampooning the "secret agent" genre. It is a spoof on British intelligence, James Bond and even a bit of Austin Powers. There in lies the trouble. How many spoofs of Bond are we going to have? And didn't the Austin Powers flicks kind of make the point? But in fairness, JER is skewing much older in it's appeal than Powers. The humor is simple, not offensive and pretty tame overall.

What this is, is a series of scene gags where Atkinson can show how funny he still is, an in some scenes... isn't. He plays Johnny English, a bumbling British agent who can't do a thing right, but somehow always gets the job done. I have always thought his understated humor, and fantastic facial expressions have always been his calling card. And they are here too. But one thing else has always dogged me about him. He is a much better side dish than main entree. The whole act, although funny at times, has a hard time carrying an entire movie.

But, in his defense, we all need movies to go to,. And for an older audience, it is getting tougher and tougher to go to a comedy and not be alarmed and offended at the new comedies that are out there. There is a whole new way of making comedies that some simply do not understand. There is a huge audience out there that thinks Hollywood has left them to rot by the box office by targeting every comedy at a 22 year old young adult. Let's face it, that's not everyone's comedy. This is a throwback to a simpler and purer comedy. And in moments, Atkinson is funny.

Johnny English Reborn. This is not going to be anyone's favorite movie, but it's out there for a laugh or two.