In the early stages of dementia, his mind continues to decline, as he must be
reminded by caretakers in the nursing home where he lives.
If it's true that Atkinson was recently motivated
by the stateside failure of this very film to check himself into an Arizona rehab centre for depressed celebrities (and frankly, don't blame audiences — distributor Universal didn't exactly tax themselves advertising Johnny English to domestic moviegoers), I hope his
caretakers remind him in haste that none of Monty Python's features grossed an enviable sum abroad, that the James Bond franchise has already satirized itself into the ground (it's no casual point that Johnny English was co-scripted
by the same writing team behind The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day), and that his first problem is trying to please a country that opens rehab centres for depressed celebrities.