Eight years after his bland and desultory original spy spoof Johnny English, Rowan Atkinson returns in a totally unnecessary sequel.  Surprisingly, perhaps amazingly, it’s pretty good.  The producers have spent a good deal of money and effort to create a James Bond spoof that actually looks and sounds like a James Bond spectacular, not some low-rent straight-to-video cousin.  The script is actually amusing — and occasionally clever — and Oliver Parker’s direction makes the most of worldwide locations, Atkinson’s deadpan buffoonery and some cool gadgetry.

Now, there is no masquerading the fact that this film (and its progenitor) is almost fifty years out of date; the prime for this type of spy spoof was the mid-to-late 1960s, when Our Man Flint and Fathom and such ilk were being manufactured by every studio to capitalize upon the James Bond-driven spy craze.  Perhaps only Rowan Atkinson can answer why the Johnny English secret agent character is being resurrected now; on the other hand, Mike Myers did sort of the same thing with Austin Powers a decade ago and made a fortune (a fourth Austin Powers film is in the works for 2013).  And of course James Bond never dies; he’ll be back late next year in Daniel Craig’s third go-round.

Johnny English Reborn presents Atkinson as a droll but competent secret agent who shamed himself some years ago in Mozambique.  Now he’s back on a case involving a potential assassination, but finds himself unable to stem the tide of events.  English is not a bumbler like Inspector Clouseau, but he shares Clouseau’s penchant for inadvertent destruction and keen misunderstanding.  The film’s plot is immaterial; it spoofs various Bond adventures while allowing Atkinson to make funny faces at the most inopportune of occasions.  And while I actively dislike humor of embarrassment (and had to turn away a few times), I found English’s adventures amusing and even clever.  What a charming surprise; it’s almost good!  ✰ ✰ ½.  26 Oct. 2011.