[lbo-talk] James Wood isn't the only idiot

[Dennis Perrin]

> In keeping with the thread on Hollywood inanities, there's this cunning
> plan:
>
> http://www.johnny-english.com/
>
> Why?
>
> If Rowan Atkinson must do a spy comedy, surely there are two options.
> First, this one, the slapstick James Bond spoof.  Second, the sardonic
> wit savaging international affairs.  But despite the excess of material
> for a contemporary Black Adder, we get an excess of Mr. Bean.
>
> -- Shane

Baldrick: I have a cunning plan!

Blackadder: Baldrick, you wouldn't know a cunning plan if it dressed in
purple, jumped up and down on a harpsichord singing "Cunning Plans Are Here
Again."

I don't think Atkinson was doing either Blackadder or Bean. Yes, there's
lots of slapstick and plenty of verbal humor; but the character Johnny
English is nothing like Atkinson's two famous creations (save for the same
physical features). Blackadder is extremely clever and quick, but he's
usually undone by his vanity and greed. Bean is an adult child, excited by
the simplest things, engaged with minutiae. English, on the other hand, is
ambitious but in over his head -- he tries to live out his spy fantasies,
but only sheer luck and the cosmos save him. He pontificates, but is
clueless. His assistant has most problems figured out, but English takes the
credit.

What impressed me most was how the obvious and predictable jokes still came
off funny. That's Atkinson's talent -- he clearly understands the comedy
universe and can work effectively at different speeds. He can find something
new in slipping on a banana peel. That's brilliance.

DP