Rowan Atkinson’s bumbling spy Johnny English began life in a series of British bank/credit card ads. And then it morphed into a couple of decidedly mediocre movies. This lackluster threequel starts after a catastrophic cyberattack paralyzes MI7, exposing their entire undercover agent roster. Since no one else is available, the frantic Prime Minister (Emma Thompson) is forced to re-activate incompetent Johnny English (Atkinson), who has been surreptitiously teaching old-fashioned espionage techniques in a provincial school. Working with his long-suffering wingman (Ben Miller), accident-prone English is obviously an analog spy in a digital age. Nevertheless, he is determined not only to discover who caused the massive data breach but also to apprehend the culprit. Towards that end, he takes off for the south of France to track down Russian agent Ophelia Bulletova (Olga Kurylenko). In the meantime, the Prime Minister eagerly seeks the aid of suave American tech guru Jason Volta (Jake Lacy), who wants to become an international power-broker. Eventually, all wind up in a Scottish castle at a G12 summit of world leaders. Working from an unimaginative, Skyfall-inspired screenplay, director David Kerr fails to find the humor in this James Bond parody. Not recommended. (S. Granger)
Johnny English Strikes Again
Universal, 89 min., PG, DVD: $29.98, Blu-ray/DVD Combo: $34.99, Jan. 22
Johnny English Strikes Again
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