Johnny English

British dry-wit buffoon Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean, Black Adder) stars in this hit-and-miss comedy spy spoof as a bumbling, inept secret agent whose delusions of grandeur and amusingly paper-thin facade of poise help sustain the snickers throughout a weak script. Our man English stumbles onto a conspiracy to overthrow the Queen: it seems an uppity French aristocrat and distant royal relative (an enjoyably hammy John Malkovich) is peeved that his ancestors were passed over for the British throne, and he's bent on becoming an usurper. Unfortunately, the baddie's convoluted plan is such a mess of gaping plot holes that it's clear the filmmakers couldn't be bothered to think about anything beyond laughs--and even many of these are telegraphed to such a ridiculous degree that some can be seen coming from an hour away. When the punchlines do arrive, Atkinson sells them with aplomb, but the movie's cheap plot devices collapse under him in the wimpy climax. Optional. [Note: Available in either a widescreen or full screen version, DVD extras include a 25-minute “making of” featurette, nine minutes of deleted scenes, a brief featurette with eight “Spy Tips” by star Rowan Atkinson, character profiles with text stats and vehicle and weapon info, an “Observation Test” with five trivia question film clips (and a brief clip prize when you complete the test for “official clearance”), DVD-ROM features (including a spy challenge, identikit, and spy profiler), and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for an intermittently funny film.] (R. Blackwelder)