Johnny English Reborn

It isn’t good, and it isn’t particularly smart, but Johnny English Reborn is amiable enough, and it is a slight improvement over the first flick in the spy-spoof series from 2003—not that that’s saying much. Rowan Atkinson portrays English, a British secret agent who stumblebums his way to last-minute, world-saving victories over madmen of all stripes. When James Bond was a joke character—or at least before the dark Daniel Craig reinvention—there was room for this kind of spoof. But these days, a character pointing out how outdated the pun-ridden, gadget-heavy Bond universe is seems outdated itself. For this adventure, English is tracking down a band of rogue intelligence agents who are looking to assassinate the premier of China. Funny premise, right? There are two sequences that get genuine laughs, but that’s not exactly worth your $10.