Johnny English

Johnny English is a British secret agent who is not especially competent, and he has spent his career at MI7 on paperwork rather than fieldwork. When a plot against the Crown Jewels comes to the attention of the service, its best agents are eliminated, leaving English as the only one available. He is promoted to the field and given the gadgets, the cars and the confidential briefings that come with the job. The jewels vanish during a public exhibition while he is on duty, and the trail leads to the wealthy French businessman Pascal Sauvage, who has designs on more than the stones themselves. A double agent named Lorna Campbell crosses his path along the way.

Peter Howitt directed, working from a screenplay by Robert Wade, Neal Purvis and William Davies. The film came third in Howitt's directing career, after Sliding Doors and Antitrust. Rowan Atkinson plays English, with Natalie Imbruglia as Lorna, Ben Miller as his colleague Bough, John Malkovich as Sauvage and Greg Wise as Agent One. It was produced by Working Title Films on a budget of about 40 million dollars and took roughly 160 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its cost.

On IMDb the film holds 6.3 out of 10 from around 185,000 votes, and on TMDB it also stands at 6.3 from far fewer votes, indicating a modest but settled audience following. Critics were less taken with it, giving 5.1 out of 10 across 120 reviews, below the audience scores. The film runs 87 minutes.