When Jason Bourne (The Bourne Identity), Harry Tasker (True Lies) and Xander Cane (XXX) were still wearing nappies, the ultimate gentleman spy had racked up forty years of bedding hot Eurobabes, crashing his way out of exploding underground strongholds and using superhuman skills to vanquish despotic villains.

With pal Alex Winter, Reeves and director Stephen Herek created a new genre way back in 1989 — the ‘moron’ teen comedy, where the young protagonists are so stupid they’re lovable.

For some films there’s a wide gulf between critical acclaim and audience endurance and acceptance. Both P T Anderson’s Magnolia and Quentin Tarantino’s Hero were lauded by the film commentariat but we’ve never seen so many people walk out of halfway through.