There's this paper-shuffler at the British Secret Service who dreams of becoming its top spy, of solving mysteries, having adventures, scoring chicks, going down poo-chutes...well, maybe not that last one, but it does actually happen.

Rowan Atkinson is Johnny English (described ? pretty aptly ? as part Mr. Bean and part Inspector Clouseau), who becomes 001 after all the other candidates die. His mission is to recover the Crown Jewels, which have gone missing as part of a fiendish plot to do Something Very Evil to England. The chief suspect is the supercilious Frenchman (surely not!), Pascal Sauvage (played with relish ? and a fearsome accent ? by Malkovitch). Aided by his sidekick, Bough (Miller) and, for some reason, Natalie Imbruglia, English goes forth to save his native land in his own unique way.

Don't be put off by sour critics who say this film is redundant in the age of Austin Powers. Johnny English is at least as funny ? often funnier, and it's Atkinson-funny, which can be very funny indeed. Watch out for the graveyard scene.

Undercover Brother is one funny film ? with jokes aplenty, but thankfully they don't rely on bodily functions but makes jokes with a smile. The movie is the story of Anton Jackson (Griffin) who is Undercover Brother, a modern-day Robin Hood in the 1970s, complete with flares, platform shoes, Afro and silk shirts. Think of him as a kind of mack daddy Austin Powers. Undercover Brother is fighting 'The Man', a powerful white man whose mission is to keep the black man down and eradicate all vestiges of African American culture. In opposition to his plan is an organization called the 'B.R.O.T.H.E.R.H.O.O.D.' which recruits Undercover Brother to stop The Man.

Undercover Brother doesn't fall into the slapstick framework so many other comedies do, it's made with enough savvy to be appreciated on its own terms. The one-liners are clever and the physical comedy and pop-culture highly goofy. It is filled with shameless satire, engaging moments of pure silliness and jokes that border on the outrageous. It combines relentless energy with an aura of good nature for a formula that works. I loved it