Johnny English (2003) is a comic movie parodying the James Bond secret agent genre, starring Rowan Atkinson as the incompetent British spy of the title, with John Malkovich, Natalie Imbruglia and Ben Miller, and featuring a unique car chase.

The screenplay was written by Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, with William Davies and Ben Elton, and the film is directed by former Bread actor Peter Howitt.

A second Johnny English movie is currently being written, though no date has been set for release.

The character of Johnny English himself is based on a similar character called Philip Latham who was played by Atkinson in a series of British television commercials for Barclaycard. The character of Bough (pronounced 'Boff') was retained from the commercials though another actor, Henry Naylor, played the part in the commercials. Some of the gags from the commercials made it into the film, including English incorrectly identifying a waiter, and the ballpoint pen scene (Latham 'shot' himself whilst demonstrating to a class of spy recruits, saying as he collapsed "take over for a Bough will you moment").

Tagline: He knows no fear. He knows no danger. He knows nothing.

When a plot to steal the Crown Jewels is revealed, Britain puts its secret agents on the case. Not very soon after, however, almost all of them are killed. Johnny English, an inept worker at British intelligence is summoned as a last resort. Together with his assistant Bough, he manages to discover the person behind the plot, Frenchman Pascal Sauvage, who is a distant relative of England's royalty.

Sauvage, believing that the crown should have gone to him instead of the monarch, has hatched an evil plan to become King of England: steal the Crown Jewels, make an impostor of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and have him proclaim Sauvage as King. English's clumsy efforts pay off, and Sauvage's plan is foiled; undeterred, he simply thinks up another scheme.

Meanwhile, English reports the plan to MI7 (British intelligence), who naturally don't believe him. English gatecrashes a party held by Sauvage, and is promptly dismissed by his superiors. Sauvage's henchmen enter Sandringham House and force the Queen to sign a letter of abdication renouncing her family's claim to the British throne, leaving the post free for Sauvage. Sauvage is informed by British officials the day after that, as the closest surviving relative of the Queen, the position of monarch now belongs to him.

English infiltrates Sauvage's chateau in France on his own and overhears Sauvage's proposal of turning Great Britain into a giant prison now he is king. At Sauvage's coronation, English arrives and accuses him of treason. While he is trying to rescue the crown jewels from Sauvage, he is inadvertently crowned king; he then places Sauvage under arrest, reveals the schemes to the public, and abdicates in favor of the Queen.

English has a dream about being Agent One. He is awakened to give mission documents to the actual Agent One. He states he checked the submarine hatch codes himself. Agent One appears to have been killed, the reason being the hatch didn't open. At Agent One's funeral, the coffin has a bomb on top of it. The agents at the funeral all die. The only agent left is English, and Pegasus, his employer, desperately hires him.

A theme song plays as English goes into Whitehall and meets Pegasus. When he enters the office, he throws his coat out the window while attempting to hang it on the rack as Agent One did. When he was asked to sign documents, he accidentally shoots the secretary in the leg with a dart. Pegasus enters and takes English to another room for briefing. English learns that he must protect the Crown Jewels that were paid for by Pascal Sauvage. English expresses his great dislike towards Sauvage. Medical crews take the secretary out of the room just as Pegasus is about to see them.

At the Tower of London, English attempts to "mingle inconspicuously with the guests." He talks to a mysterious woman named Lora Campbell. He mistakes Sauvage for a waiter and takes his Bloody Mary from Sauvage's hand. Surprised, Sauvage remains behind English long enough to hear him say that English would "rather have my bottom impaled on a giant cactus rather than exchange pleasantries with that jumped-up Frenchman." Sauvage introduces himself as a jumped-up Frenchman before starting a speech. At an instance, a man turns the power off and the Jewels are hidden behind steel covers.

English spots people coming down the stairs and he knocks the first in the head with a champagne bottle. Power comes back on. It turns out to be a Colonel who spoke to English earlier. English covers himself up by saying the assailant ran into an empty room. He proceeds to run in and fight the imaginary assailant. He comes out and says he has subdued the assailant. When he opens the steel covers, the Jewels are gone.

Back in Whitehall, English is forced to describe the assailant. He thinks rapidly and comes up with a big man that has frizzy hair, an eye patch, a broken nose, few teeth, and a scar in the shape of a banana on both cheeks that met in the middle.

English goes back to the Tower of London. He parks in the Tow Away Zone. His assistant, Bough, warns him about it, but he doesn't listen. English lectures the police about ways the thief got in. A huge hole in the ground is behind him, but he doesn't suspect they came up through the floor. He walks backward and nearly falls into the hole, only saved by Bough. In the attempt to rescue English, Bough ends up perched over the hole himself. English attempts to save them both, but they end up falling down the hole into an underground corridor.

English says they can find their way around with echolocation by only singing in E-flat. He practices, but fails. Bough spots a ladder and they climb it. They arrive under a grate and see the thieves. They jump out and have the thieves cornered when English's clip falls out. With English and Bough's attention on the clip, the thieves escape in a hearse car.

They chase the car and realize they are no match for it. They turn to their car, but it is being towed. English hijacks the tow truck and chases the car. English climbs into their car in the back and asks to be dropped off. However, he is dropped off on the trailer of another truck and is driven away. Scared, English reverses and heads off the other direction. He chases the wrong hearse car into a graveyard and the thieves escape.

In the graveyard, English threatens the mourners and says they are all under arrest. He then dances a jig on the coffin. Bough comes back and realizes he must rescue English. He pretends he is Dr. Bough from the Lunatic Response Unit and that English is Gunther, a lunatic supposed to be released in 2028. English pretends he is insane and is able to leave the graveyard.

Back in Sauvage's headquarters, it is revealed that he stole the Crown Jewels. He says that the crown should have gone to him instead of the monarch. An employee of his says that they must have the Archbishop of Canterbury in order to crown Sauvage king. It is shown that they are making a prostethic face of the Archbishop for an imposter. The two employees worry about English. Sauvage attempts to relieve them with a video of English which shows him in the bathroom practicing lame karate moves, even attempting one on a rubber duck. Sauvage states that English is a fool. A minion says that he is a fool that keeps showing up. Sauvage gives them permission to eliminate English the next time he shows up.

Back in Whitehall, English reveals his suspicions to Pegasus: Sauvage stole the Crown Jewels. Pegasus is furious and wants Sauvage discounted from the investigation. English nods, but reveals he is going to break into Sauvage's office to Bough. While they are walking in the garage, they say hello to a man under a car, thinking it's one of their employees. It turns out to be one of Sauvage's cronies. He attacks them with a sub-machine gun, but fails to kill them. When he runs out of ammo, he runs away. English has a clear shot at him, but his gun malfunctions. They look around for the minion. Bough finds him and is about to shoot him, but English is on the floor beneath him and grabs his feet from under him. The minion escapes unscathed as Bough is injured.

English drives down a street with Bough. Bough has a bloody nose. English evades accusations by saying there was more than one person. He spots a motorcycle and goes into a sushi bar. He meets Lora Campbell. He reveals that he sees her at two crime scenes and can't find a record of her in government files. She asks him if he should ask the government that. He says he is the government. However, to keep up his disguise, he must try sea urchin in the sushi bar. He finds it disgusting. His disgust waxes when Lora tells him sea urchin feds through its bottom. He lets her get away while preoccupied with the sea urchin. He spits it in the moving conveyor belt, but gets his tie stuck in it. He moves along the sushi line, knocking people over.

In a plane, English's plan is revealed. Bough is to parachute down on Sauvage's building and disable the alarm system. Then English will parachute down and capture Sauvage. Bough givs him a laser beacon to find Sauvage's building (Sauvage's building is identical to another building next to it. The other building is a City Hospital). Being the stubborn person he is, English refuses it. Bough does his job wonderfully. English lands on the wrong building. Once inside the hospital, English sees the words, "Laboratory" and "Neurology" and thinks that Sauvage has a laboratory set up and "God knows what kind of sick operation he's up to."

English "rescues" a patient and apprehends a doctor and two nurses, calling them, "Dr. Frankenstein" and "angels of death." Once in a room, English demands he be directed to Sauvage. The prisoners respond by looking out the window, where Sauvage building is. English gets out by saying he was a secret agent testing their emergency response skills.

Once inside Sauvage building, English is captured, but escapes when he stabs his captor with muscle relaxant and Bough knocks him out. English realizes that they are making an imposter of the Archbishop and notices the words, "Jesus is coming, look busy" on the imposter's bottom. They enter a room where Sauvage reveals his plan to be crowned king using the fake Archbishop and to capture every single piece of land in England.

A minion arrives and English questions him after injecting him with truth serum. This turns out to be actually muscle relaxant. English switched up the injection rings, so the person he thought he injected with muscle relaxant actually has truth serum in him. English accidentally injects himself with muscle relaxant. The "muscle relaxant two" act like overgrown babies with clothes and hair. Suddenly, two other cronies arrive and confront Bough. Just when he is about to die, Lora saves him by smashing the two cronies in the head with a fire extinguisher. She reveals she is a Foreign Secretary who is also suspicious of Sauvage. They run into the first minion who captured English. Bough realizes he has the truth serum and asks him how to get out without being seen. The minion tells him. Bough knocks him out, but English insists on reporting to Pegasus, who is attending a party in the Sauvage building.

At the party, English is still in the grasps of the muscle relaxant. He picks up a glass of wine, but drops it. Another one cracks in his hand. He spills it onto a lady and head-butts her. She slaps him and Lora saves him by dancing with him. However, he dances completely bizarre and catches Sauvage's attention. Sauvage is informed by the muscle relaxant minion that English broke into his office. Sauvage proceeds to tell Pegasus, who takes English and Bough off of the case. In his office, Sauvage calls someone and says to move to plan B as English has seen too much. He also says to capture the queen and get rid of the fake Archbishop.

The cronies break into the queen's residence and force her to sign a form of abdication by threatening to shoot her dog. She signs and is kidnapped. The Prime Minister has a meeting with Sauvage and tells him the news: the queen has abdicated and disappeared and that he is the closest relative of the royal family. Sauvage states he wishes the coronation to take place immediately.

English hears the news while practicing darts on a poster of Sauvage. Lora visits him and tells him she has been reassigned to the case and wishes him to come with her. English doesn't want to, but is forced to. They drive to Sauvage's chateau in France, where he is having a major criminal meeting.