Johnny English Strikes Again (2018)

Growing up, I can vividly remember watching Rowan Atkinson’s characters with my family on the public access channel when I was a kid. Atkinson’s shtick was the type of physical humor that was “clean and fun-for-the-family” (at least that’s how I imagine they would advertise it). We could watch Atkinson’s “Mr. Bean” character without fear of offending our mother who is easily one of the most conservative people that I know. Without this type of hyper-specific audience-member in my mother anymore, I’m rarely on the lookout for this type of comedy unless I have my 8-year old son with me.

When I saw “Johnny English Strikes Again” come across the Film Yap’s review offerings, I thought, “Why not?” I mean, I very much enjoy the “unlikely-spy” genre. Realizing that I hadn’t watched any of Johnny English’s previous two offerings, it looked like nobody at The Film Yap had either. The only mention of “Johnny English” was in Joe Shearer’s “Worst of 2011,” where he reported, “Even my 6-year-old son, who loves Disney Channel sitcoms and cackles like a madman every time he hears someone pass gas, thought it stunk.”

I went into this film hopeful, however, since movies like the “Austin Powers” series and “The Spy Who Knew Too Little” (one of my favorite throwback Bill Murray films) have proven that this genre can deliver laughs. More recent films like Spy starring Melissa McCarthy have shown that there is still some humor to be squeezed from this genre.

In “Johnny English Strikes Again,” Atkinson has retired from British Military Intelligence and is currently working as a school teacher in the country. A cyber-attack that exposes the identity of all of Britain’s secret agents force the Prime Minister (played by Emma Thompson) to call Johnny English back into action. This sets the premise for Johnny English’s newest mission, to track down those responsible for the cyber-attack.

The film offers enough laughs from Atkison’s physical humor, the same humor I enjoyed as a child. As an adult, I can still appreciate the “clean and fun-for-the-family” humor, it just doesn’t muster the same type of belly laughs that it used to. There are a lot of jokes that stem from Johnny English's inability to “get with the times” (a similar humor-tool that came from the “Austin Powers” movies, without the punch).

I left the theater feeling good about the movie, knowing that Mr. Atkinson can still perform the same type of shtick he has been doing for years, and not make it feel overly-recycled. Those that have enjoyed the previous Johnny English films will certainly not be disappointed with this outing.