Review: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
Susan Granger
Susan Granger's review of "AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME" (New
Line Cinema)
This comedy sequel continues the satirical adventures of
"The International Man of Mystery," beginning with a James Bond'ish
theme as the "Star Wars"-inspired introduction scrolls up the
screen. In a nutshell: After Austin Powers (Mike Myers) discovers that
his beloved bride, Vanessa Carrington (Elizabeth Hurley), is really a
Fem-Bot (female robot), he is informed by the Head of British
Intelligence (Michael York) that fiendish Fat Bastard (Mike Myers),
the Scottish henchman of Dr. Evil (Mike Myers), has stolen his mojo
(his essence, his life force, his sex drive), using time travel
machine to go back to 1967 when Austin was cryogenically frozen. So
Austin has to go back to the swingin', shagadelic '60s to retrieve his
manhood. That's where he meets groovy CIA babe, Felicity Shagwell
(Heather Graham): "Shagwell by name. Shag-very-well by reputation." So
much for plot. Relying primarily on sight gags and toilet humor,
director Jay Roach desperately grabs laughs wherever he can find
them. And that includes a Jerry Springer Show riff in which Dr. Evil's
son (Seth Green) confronts his father, along with Nazi and Ku Klux
Klan sons, claiming: "My Father is Evil and Wants to Take Over the
World." What's new? Dr. Evil has a tiny clone, known as
Mini-Me. Robert Wagner and Rob Lowe play the '90s/ '60s versions of
Dr. Evil's second-in-command - and Rob does the best R.J. Wagner
impression I've ever seen! Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello, Tim
Robbins, Willie Nelson, and Woody Harrelson pop up in cameos. On the
Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged
Me" is a goofy, sporadically funny, silly 6. Oh, behave! And stay for
the credits.
Mac VerStandig
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Reviewed by Mac Verstandig on June 9, 1999
http://www.moviereviews.org
cri...@moviereviews.org
Release date in USA - June 11, 1999
Hilarious, entertaining, sexy and perhaps even shagadellic, Austin
Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is the type of
fall-out-of-your-seat-laughing comedy that only comes around on the
rarest of occasions. With acting so uproariously funny, and a script
that delivers punch line after punch line at a pace so rapid that you
miss most of the movie while trying to stop laughing, Austin Powers is
the comic convention of 1999.
A sequel in the truest of ways, the latest adventures of Austin Powers
follow those of his in the 1997 hit, Austin Powers: International Man of
Mystery. Dr. Evil (Mike Myers in one of three boisterously entertaining
performances in this film) is back on earth in 1999 despite his previous
venture into space at the conclusion of the 1997 movie, and more evil
than ever. He plans on taking over the earth and ridding it of his
enemy, Austin Powers (Mike Myers). In order to do this he must travel
from his new space headquarters, a Starbucks shop, in 1999 back to 1969
and steal Austin Powers' mojo. Considering this seems to be a movie
spoofing Star Wars heavily, it is assumed that this mojo is the
equivalent of the "the force" and can be easily withdrawn from a frozen
body. Understanding that leads to the obvious point that a total and
utter suspension of reality is essential.
Dr. Evil has yet another problem to deal with, as his son, Scott Evil
(Seth Green), is upset with him for doing what he does. This leads to a
wonderful spoof on the times, as the two meet again on the Jerry
Springer Show. Just infuriating Scott further, Dr. Evil has been cloned
as well. The result is what he refers to as Mini-me, an exact replica,
but only 1/8 his size. To Dr. Evil the clone is like the son he always
wanted and never had. After all, as the first movie showed, there is
nothing like a good father son conflict to bring laughs to the screen.
This is an absolute truth as the characters continuously try to out-hip
each other, while Dr. Evil complains that Scott is only "The Diet Coke
of Evil."
When you have a spy as sexy as Austin Powers himself, the women
naturally follow. In this installment, we meet Felicity Shagwell
(Heather Graham), Ivana Humpalot (Kristen Johnson of TV's 3rd Rock from
the Sun), Robin Swallows (Gia Carides) and a few other shagable young
women. The basic plot outline of their roles is that all of them are
working for Dr. Evil, save Felicity who is a secret agent.
Additionally, this production is full of cameos from some most notable
names. Burt Bacharach, Elvis Costello, Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson,
Willie Nelson, Tim Robbins and Jerry Springer all poke into the film at
some point, with most of them just delivering one of the countless penis
jokes as themselves. Mike Myers also takes on a third role, of a more
cameo like nature.
What really brings the humor to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
are the spoofs on every day things that people can relate to, and
classic movies that have always begged to be lampooned in this fashion.
Even the trailers for this film suggested that "If you can only see one
movie this summer, see85Star Wars: Episode One" as the film immediately =
adapts to being released in the wake of the sure hit from Lucas. So the
solution chosen was to tease the force to nth degree, even beginning
this film with yellow text scrolling up the screen, with an outer-space
background. Additionally, there are the obvious connections to James
Bond which would be the central focus of the film if it was a plot
concentrated work instead of a witty collection of humor. And just to
top it off there is a moment just slightly modified from John Watters'
cult classic, Pink Flamingos, involving the consumption of human waist.
Mike Myers may well be doing these movies because his talent is limited
elsewhere. Despite moderate success as Wayne in Wayne's World, and an
award worthy performance in 54, the actor has been wise enough to limit
his work after the 1993 flop, So I Married An Axe Murderer. Regardless,
he is perfect for these roles probably due in large part to his writing
credit on the film as well. Heather Graham is the ideal counterpart to
Myers, bringing the presence of an actress capable of delivering the
jokes and body humor just as well as anyone else, with a sexual appeal
that makes her the Bond Girl of Austin Powers. This is never better
shown than a scene which pits her in bed with an obese character simply
known as Fat Bastard (Myers' third role). The two of them light up the
screen and make an otherwise totally disgusting, uncalled-for scene into
a funny and just mildly nauseating one that sticks with you for a long
time.
Mike Myers has created a comic gem. Spoofing everything in sight,
holding nothing back, and running monologues of nothing but penis humor,
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is the year's most refreshing
comedy. Further enlightened by great character acting and distinguished
cameos, the film will make you hope for and anticipate a future
installment. Needless to say, this certainly isn't the Diet Coke of
movies.
Wallace Baine
Austin scores again
by Wallace Baine
Film writer
Santa Cruz Sentinel
This summer, Austin Powers may pass Elvis Presley as the world’s record
holder for Most Bad Impersonations Inspired. The next time you have to
endure a woeful “You’re shagedelic, Baby!” on an answering machine, you’re
free to hate him for it.
But let’s be mature about this, shall we? Let’s learn to separate the
messiah from the fools who invoke his name. “Austin Powers: The Spy Who
Shagged Me,” the second big-screen adventure of the horse-teethed Carnaby
Street clown, is a howling good time, no matter how grating you may find
the promotional hype. However poorly Mike Myers’s nutty creation comes off
on TV or magazine covers, the movie is a kaleidoscope of madcap brilliance
where the star is not Austin, but Austin’s insanely conceived world.
“The Spy Who Shagged Me” is fundamentally a cascade of gags, many of them
puerile and delightfully disgusting and the rest saucy send-ups of
pop-culture clichés. In the long history of “Saturday Night Live” alums
elevated to movie-star status, Myers is, in fact, one of the few (the
only?) still doing “SNL”-style schtick, deftly adapting it to the
feature-film format and brazenly appealing to his audience’s smarts and its
weakness for a well-executed poop joke.
Playing three of the film’s central characters and having co-written the
script with “SNL” pal Michael McCullers, Myers is in full control of the
Austin Powers persona. With the help of fun-loving director Jay Roach (who
directed the original “Austin Powers”), Myers creates a set that captures
the lightning-in-a-bottle feel of inspired improvised comedy. The result is
an endless parade of sight gags, in-jokes, dopey sexual humor and wildly
depraved -- but never over-the-top -- satire. For every joke that doesn’t
quite gel, there are four or five gems and one or two that are
wet-your-pants funny. That makes for a pretty good batting average.
When we last left Austin, he had landed the beautiful and highly shaggable
Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley). The new film opens with the couple’s
honeymoon which, for reasons best left under wraps, ends up with Austin a
suddenly single swinger again. In no time, however, the International Man
of Mystery is in the clutches of another stunning babe.
CIA agent Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham, in a star-making turn) -- the
kind of gun-toting, Jaguar-driving, miniskirt-wearing sex kitten that only
exists in the imaginations of 16-year-olds with extensive Playboy
collections -- pops up to help Austin battle the notorious Dr. Evil (Myers
again). The bald and effete Dr. Evil (who we first meet on the set of the
Jerry Springer Show) hires a monstrously obese Scotsman named Fat Bastard
(Myers yet again) to travel back in time to 1969 to extract Austin’s “mojo”
while Austin is cryogenically frozen. As a result, Austin tragically loses
his libido at the moment of passion with a vamping Russian fashion model
named (ha, ha) Ivana Humpalot (Kristen Johnston of “Third Rock from the
Sun”).
To recover the lead in his pencil, Austin himself goes back to 1969 and
there is a great sense of infectious fun in Austin’s scenes at the center
of London’s swingin’ go-go scene, where he in fact he meets foxy Felicity,
who almost immediately also wants a piece of Austin’s power.
Curiously, Austin Powers is not the catalyst for the movie’s best humor.
That honor belongs to the persnickety, pinkie-kissing Dr. Evil, a cackling
bad guy with world-domination fantasies who has to deal with some
hilariously contemporary problems: a disaffected teenage son and the
awkwardness of a sudden sexual encounter with a co-worker. Disappointed by
his sarcastic slacker son Scott, Evil creates a companion in his own
likeness, a dwarf with the same bald head, gray suit and black heart he
touchingly christens Mini-Me (Verne Troyer). Scott hates the little guy,
Fat Bastard wants to eat him, but he brings out devoted love from the mad
scientist who is taken to blurting out to his Mini-Me things like “You
complete me” (smile, you “Jerry Maguire” fans).
As a piece of short-attention-span comedy, “The Spy Who Shagged Me” pays
attention to detail. The delights comes in diverse forms from unexpected
cameos from the likes of Elvis Costello, Tim Robbins, Woody Harrelson and
Burt Bacharach (a veteran of the first movie) to pointed spoofs of rap
videos to the casting of Rob Lowe as villanous, one-eyed Robert Wagner’s
younger self to a series of deliciously dumb gags revolving around the
synonyms for the male organ (high-brow it ain’t). The main satirical
scaffolding is, of course, the James Bond series. Bond fans will recognize
a number of sly references to Bond films but 007 is only one of dozens of
cultural allusions that will reward inveterate TV, pop music and movie
hounds. Even product placement, skewered so well in Myers’s pre-Austin hit
“Wayne’s World,” gets zinged. Starbucks, for instance, must have mixed
feelings that one of its franchises serves as Dr. Evil’s world-domination
headquarters.
Unlike another, much-hyped summer blockbuster (you hear me talking, Jar
Jar?), “The Spy Who Shagged Me” lives up to its billing. It’s less a
cohesive story that a series of set pieces, each explosive in comic
potential. To take one example, the scene of Myers as Fat Bastard, cocooned
in realistic-looking latex fat lying naked in bed drooling and eating
chicken while the lovely Felicity looks on in acute disgust is the kind of
pungency that makes this movie such a devilish treat. By mixing arch
pop-cult references with goofy, sexy fun and tossing in a handful of
expertly drawn bodily-function vulgarities, Mike Myers has created a movie
valentine to the under-30 crowd. Bow to Austin Powers, for he is the
learned Doctor of Scatology. Smashing, baby. Simply smashing.
Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
"Do you smoke after sex?" the voluptuous Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth
Hurley) asks her new husband, Austin Powers (Mike Myers). "I don't
know," he replies with his boyish grin. "I've never looked."
Yes, that "International Man of Mystery" is back. This time, in AUSTIN
POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME, he goes back to England in the Swinging
Sixties to recover his mojo. Can't be a world-famous playboy if your
mojo is not working. Even a huge clump of chest hair two inches thick
isn't enough to wow the women if your mojo is missing.
In a hilarious opening sequence, Austin discovers that his television
remote control, including the fast forward, mute and alternate language
selection buttons, command his new wife. Once again Myers, who shares
the writing credits with Michael McCullers, has clearly put enormous
thought and effort into the design of every sight gag and every snippet
of dialog in the movie.
The first AUSTIN POWERS film was a bit too cluttered and hurried, as if
Myers wanted to pack it with every joke imaginable. This second one
goes down a bit easier since it is the more relaxed and good-natured of
the two. This time Myers seems more confident of his abilities so he
gives his picture more room to breathe.
The good-spirited movie has great fun ripping off a host of other
pictures, especially Bond films. The names of the characters, à la
Bond, are a particularly enjoyable source of mirth. A Russian sexpot
named Ivana Humpalot (Kristen Johnston) engages Austin in an erotic game
of chess. Another character's name is Robin Swallows, but her maiden
name was Spits. You can probably guess where the writers go with that.
Full of self-deprecating humor, the movie is never happier than when it
is making fun of itself. One drive, supposedly in England but clearly
filmed in the hills above Los Angeles, has a sign proclaiming "English
Countryside." Austin remarks that Southern California doesn't look
anything at all like England.
And if you're tired of all those ridiculously blatant product
placements, the movie parodies the most hyped company in the movies
today, Starbucks. One of the scenes, spoofing a typical council chamber
scene from STAR WARS, is set in a huge space needle with a hundred-foot
high Starbucks sign on the outside.
The plot has Austin's nemesis, Dr. Evil, going back to 1969 to steal
Austin's mojo, which renders him powerless in the present. Austin goes
back to recover his mojo. The plot is actually more complicated than
this, and Austin makes fun of its logical flaws.
Myers also plays Dr. Evil, as well as a couple of other hard to spot
roles. Dr. Evil clones himself into a miniature version of himself
called Mini-Me (Verne Troyer). At one-eighth Dr. Evil's size and
looking and acting exactly like him, Mini-Me is treated as a cross
between a loyal dog and a favorite son.
In the present, Robert Wagner repeats his role as Number 2. In the
past, Rob Lowe gives a dead-on performance as the Young Number 2. Lowe,
in an uncanny performance, looks and acts so much like Wagner that one
could be convinced that they were father and son in real life.
The best part of the casting is the addition of Heather Graham (BOOGIE
NIGHTS) as CIA operative Felicity Shagwell. As Austin's fellow spy, she
provides a playfulness and an innocence that lightens up the story,
which has a tendency to go too much over the top. The sexual chemistry
between the two leads is delicious and genuine. (Without giving too
much away, let's just say that Austin spends most of the picture as a
bachelor.)
The dialog has little gems of wit. After a one-night fling, Dr. Evil
expresses some regret the next morning. "I can't let my feelings for
you interfere with my taking over the world," he admonishes his
paramour. Other lines make little sense but Myers delivers them so
confidently, they work anyway. ("He's the snake to my mongoose," Dr.
Evil says of Austin, and then admits that it might be the other way
around.)
Some of the best bits in the film are visual. Austin and Heather are
shown in silhouette inside a tent. She appears to be doing unspeakable
things to his body. The camera periodically cuts to the inside of the
tent so we can see that nothing unnatural is happening. Even knowing
how the joke is performed doesn't diminish its humor or keep you from
squirming as you watch.
With energetic music, including such old favorites as "American Woman,"
and with intricately planned comedy, this latest AUSTIN POWERS should
delight the fans of the original as well as attract new ones. This time
the sequel is better than its predecessor.
AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME runs 1:33. It is rated PG-13 for
sexual innuendo and crude humor and would be fine for kids around 11 or
12 and up.
Email: Steve....@InternetReviews.com
Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
Curtis Edmonds
I walked into the second Austin Powers movie prepared to write a scathingly
bad review. I was ready to deploy my army of poison pens -- er, make that
poison pixels -- in opposition to the overwhelming, shattering avalanche of
stupidity I knew to be coming. I entered the theater totally prepared for
a never-ending cycle of potty jokes, sniggering references to body parts,
and gags drawn out far enough past their normal life expectancy to make an
actuary cry. And I wasn't a bit disappointed.
Most people who liked the first Austin Powers movie won't be disappointed,
either. Mike Myers dons the geeky glasses, the dead-weasel hairpiece, the
horribly bad bridgework, the fake chestal hair, the frilly lace cravat and
the velvet suit to duel Dr. Evil and save the world yet again. Along the
way -- and this is the sort of movie where "along the way" matters more
than anything else -- Austin mugs, grimaces, shags, cavorts around naked,
and generally acts annoying. Alternatively, the movie presents Myers as
Dr. Evil, who combines the worst features of Ernst Blofeld and Ed Sullivan.
I am not inclined to argue with people who think these characters are
funny, and will merely state that this sort of thing ain't my bag, baby.
If the Powers and Evil characters share one trait, it is their mammoth,
gargantuan narcissism. The real battle in The Spy Who Shagged Me isn't
between the forces of evil and good, it's between Myers's ego and his
generosity. This movie could easily have been a Mike Myers extravaganza of
self love, with all other comic possibilities squeezed out. Fortunately,
though, the forces of good make some inroads here that weren't made in
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. The Spy Who Shagged Me is a
better movie because Myers is a little more willing to share the wealth and
spread out the good lines more evenly. This allows the focus to be taken
off the Powers/Evil duality occasionally and allows a little bit of genuine
humor to sneak in now and then.
Consider the treatment of the female leads in both movies. Elizabeth
Hurley was perfectly cast as Austin's sidechick in the first movie (she's
the perfect casting choice for every movie she's ever been in) but the
spotlight wasn't really ever on Our Liz. Hurley shows up momentarily in
The Spy Who Shagged Me and is generously given one of the truly funny lines
in the movie -- not much, but one more than she had before.
In comparison, the lovely Heather Graham as CIA agent Felicity Shagwell
redeems the entire movie. In a movie season replete with special effects,
the sight of Heather Graham in a micro-miniskirt is still the best piece of
eye candy around. Felicity is smart, dangerous, absolutely ravishing, and
has a way with the sexy one liner. "You're light on your feet," Austin
raves as they dance. "I'm pretty light off my feet, too," says the
shagadelic Felicity, in a tone calculated to make a man's knees turn to
jelly. This is Heather Graham's happening, baby, and it's groovy, man.
Seth Green had a marginal part in the first movie as Scott Evil, but he
stole the show with his criticism of his old man's megalomaniacal ways.
Green gets a little more time to shine here, imparting a little bit of
Generation X common sense to the Sixties silliness. There's still too
strong of a strain of whiny brat in his performance, but he's got the
adolescent sneer down pat. When Dr. Evil dubs his newest plan to destroy
the world "The Alan Parsons Project", Green is there to poke wicked fun; "I
can't wait for Project Bananarama."
Unfortunately, the wealth isn't shared all that equally. Rob Lowe, who was
so good in Wayne's World, is well-cast as a young Robert Wagner but gets
little to do. (One wishes that Wayne Campbell would make a cameo
appearance, if only to remind us how babelicious Heather Graham is.)
Kristen Johnson disappears in the second reel, which is too bad -- she's
got the Natasha Fatale accent down pat.
I thought The Spy Who Shagged Me was quite a bit funnier than the
original. Most of the comedy takes place below the waist, but now and
again there's a funny bit that provides a respite from the onslaught of
bathroom and sex jokes. It's still not that great, though. (The biggest
reaction I heard from the audience was when Austin's own Willie Nelson
showed up in a cameo.) Your inner fifteen-year-old will be happy to see
see The Spy Who Shagged Me, but those looking for more sophisticated humor
should stay away and avoid further disappointment.
--
Curtis D. Edmonds
blue...@hsbr.org
"First, you show up. Then you see what happens."
-- Napoleon Bonaparte
Berge Garabedian
For more reviews and movie trivia, visit http://www.joblo.com/
Okay, so I was a little distracted by the fact that I had Jacques
Villeneuve, Formula I race car driver, snuggling up to his better half a few
rows behind me in the theatre, but once the groovy tunes sounded off, the
colorful characters jumped on-screen and Austin Powers blasted into his
all-familiar mojo fever, there was no denying that the 60s were back, and
this shagadelic sequel had begun!
PLOT:
Dr. Evil time-travels back to the 1960s to steal Austin Powers' mojo (His
essence, his aura, his libido, if you will). With the absence of his horny
spirit, Austin loses focus and must also return to the 60s in order to
regain his essence.
CRITIQUE:
Clever, witty, enjoyable, fun and almost as fresh and original as the first
one, save for a few redundancies which didn't click and Heather Graham who
was not as interesting as Elizabeth Hurley in the original (although her
outfits are simply smashing!), this movie will definitely satisfy all
Austin/Dr. Evil lovers and guarantee a solid box-office summer for Myers and
crew. This movie starts off with a bang, as the first 20 minutes deliver
some of the film's funnier moments (The whole Jerry Springer sequence
cracked me up). It also seemed as though they put more emphasis on the Dr.
Evil character in this follow-up, which was all fine with me, cause I
personally found him to be more entertaining than Austin in the first place.
Nevertheless, kudos go out to Mike Myers once more for pulling off plenty of
smart one-liners, movie homages galore, and tossing a couple of new
characters into the mix. Mini-me, a midget Dr. Evil, seemed to be the
biggest crowd pleaser, and the Fat Bastard (Myers under 80 pounds of latex
fat), who I could've done without, save for one hilarious scene in bed with
a female spy.
A couple of other things which didn't truly delight me were the Austin
Powers dancing segues between scenes, which seem forced and self-indulgent,
and the song and dance numbers in the film, which appeared to be nothing
more than time-fillers. But on the whole, this movie is funny and will have
you cracking up at Dr. Evil's father/son silly banter, Mini-me's fight with
Austin, the multitude of sexual overtures delivered by Austin, and the
overall enthusiasm of the entire ride down the 60s free-wheeling, all-loving
shagfest. Folks who did not enjoy the first film, will undoubtedly scoff at
this sequel, which plot-wise, does even less than its predecessor. But for
all of you who enjoyed the first movie for what is was, a goofy, original,
over-the-top spy parody, chances are that you will most certainly enjoy the
bulk of this film, with its re-occurring characters (and jokes, at times),
Myers' fantastic performance as Evil and Powers, its fun loving,
self-deprecating attitude, and all the kitchy goodness that you could stuff
inside of ninety minutes of groovy cinema. Now does that make you horny?
Little Known Facts about this film and its stars:
Cameos galore in this one as well (Don't read further, if you don't want to
know who they are). Tim Robbins plays the President of the United States of
America, Woody Harrelson shows up as, well, a character named Woody, and
Kristen Johnston plays some husky Russian babe, Ivanna Humpalot. Clint
Howard, Ron Howard's brother, also returns as the radar operator. Burt
Bacharach, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, Rebecca Romjin-Stamos and Jerry
Springer also show up as themselves.
The actor playing Mini-me is named Verne Troyer. He is 32 inches tall. You
may remember him as the tiny Santa Claus on top of Arnold Schwarzenegger in
1996's JINGLE ALL THE WAY.
Mike Myers claims that nearly 40% of the dialogue in this film was
improvised on the spot, and that he has agreed to do up to five Austin
Powers films in all. Even King Hussein of Jordan was a huge Austin Powers
fan according to Myers, and watched the tape when he was ill at the Mayo
Clinic.
The original AUSTIN POWERS film became Billboard's No.1-selling video in its
category in 1998, and has been there ever since (as of June 9, 1999...64
weeks and counting).
James Bond film references: (Entertainment Weekly#489) The title is a direct
rip-off of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. When Austin and Felicity hit the beach in
bikinis, it's a reference to Ursula Andress in DR.NO. The new volcanic lair
of Dr. Evil is from YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (Just as Dr. Evil is patterned after
TWICE's Blofeld character). The music for the sequel is very CASINO ROYALE,
and there's a bit of GOLDFINGER in the scene where Austin sees an assassin
behind him in the reflection of his glasses. There are also plenty of other
film references tossed in and around, such as INDEPENDENCE DAY, JERRY
MAGUIRE, THE EXORCIST, STAR WARS, THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, and many more
which I just can't seem to remember at this time.
This film was originally titled IT'S SHAGGING TIME and THE RETURN OF DR.
EVIL.
In the U.S., "shag" is far less offensive than in other English-speaking
countries. Singapore briefly forced a title change to THE SPY WHO SHIOKED ME
("Shioked" means "treated nicely.").
Review Date: June 9, 1999
Director: Jay Roach
Writers: Mike Myers and Michael McCullers
Producers: Mike Myers, Demi Moore, John Lyons
Jennifer Todd and Suzanne Todd
Actors: Mike Myers as Austin Powers/Dr. Evil/Fat
Bastard
Heather Graham as Felicity Shagwell
Genre: Comedy
Year of Release: 1999
---------------------------------------
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(c) 1999 Berge Garabedian
Jamie Peck
AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rating: ***1/2 (out of ****)
New Line / 1:34 / 1999 / PG-13 (constant sex/bathroom humor, language,
comic violence, pseudo-nudity)
Cast: Mike Myers; Heather Graham; Robert Wagner; Michael York; Mindy
Sterling; Seth Green; Verne Troyer; Rob Lowe
Director: Jay Roach
Screenplay: Mike Myers; Michael McCullers
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A sequel to a movie that wasn't a very big hit to begin with isn't an
especially encouraging idea -- unless, of course, it's "Austin Powers: The
Spy Who Shagged Me." This second helping of bawdy business from
star/writer Mike Myers successfully begins to stack a franchise on top of
the 1997 original, which was basically a base send-up of British cinema,
the James Bond series in particular. "Spy" has greater ambitions and makes
good on them, sticking it to the aforementioned target while
simultaneously leaving no pop-culture stone unturned. In the first 10
minutes alone, Myers lampoons 007 themes, "Star Wars" screen-crawls and
Esther Williams' underwater ballets -- and they mostly click, in-season or
not.
This inspired silliness carries into and throughout the entire film, which
finds '60s nemeses Austin Powers (Myers), the swinging sleuth with a
ghastly Shirley Partridge-'do and ghastlier Nehru jackets, and Dr. Evil
(Myers again), the wicked mastermind with a kooky affinity for his
hairless kitty and kookier plans for world domination, again clashing in
the '90s. Evil's nonsensical schemes involve using time-travel to steal
Powers' mojo (or, for those not in the know, his libido), though in the
funnier self-referential bits, Myers and Co. draw attention to plot holes
and suggest that overlooking them is in full enjoyment's best interest.
But do people really care if the story adds up? Far more pressing matters
involve whether or not Myers, both as scribe and performer, is at his
cheekiest. The answer -- a strong "don't worry" -- comes long before he
debuts yet a third role, that of a slobbering, Scottish Dr. Evil henchman
called Fat Bastard. Giving life to this loathsome brute enables Myers to
not only hide under what looks like a ton of latex, it permits the kind of
kilts-and-haggis humor he mined so effectively in "So I Married an Axe
Murderer." He'd be guilty of spotlight-hogging were he not so dead-on in
all three parts, each of which could probably occupy their own farce
alone.
Like Myers' hats, the film fuses cast members old and new. Showing up from
the former "Austin" are familiar favorites such as Number Two (Robert
Wagner), Frau Farbissina (Mindy Sterling) and Scott Evil (Seth Green).
Misunderstood Scott, the bad Dr.'s son, partakes in clashes with dad that
are utterly priceless, leading the elder Evil to instead play
father-figure to his 28-inch-tall clone (Verne Troyer), a malevolent
munchkin he affectionately dubs Mini-Me. This "Island of Dr.
Moreau"-inspired character gets used and abused frequently, reaffirming
how "Spy" shuns political-correctness in its search for a quick giggle
fix. But the jokes are never offensive, even if they spend a majority of
the time in and around the toilet.
As with all spoofs, misfires occur -- how not original to cut to an
erupting volcano following suggested sexual activity -- and every single
punchline doesn't quite hit a home run; "The Spy Who Shagged Me" has a
tendency to drag a few shenanigans out to the point of overkill, though
that's less of a stumbling block here than it was for its predecessor
(remember the interminable urination bit?). One area done better by the
previous installment, however, would be the female lead: Elizabeth Hurley
brought her an appealing mix of sensuality and sportsmanship. Hurley gets
explained away in a nifty prologue, thus opening the door for Heather
Graham, who looks fetching in mesh but seems out-of-sync with the groovy
goings-on.
No matter. With Myers, Mini-Me and more delightfully gag-worthy gags than
"There's Something About Mary" -- a naughty shadow show and a coffee
pitcher full of feces blow low and lower -- these flaws hardly register.
"Austin" 1 did about $50 million at the box-office and then found an
audience of avid devotees upon its video release. With those folks now
foaming at the mouth over the prospect of future films, "Austin" 2 is
practically guaranteed to destroy the notion of diminishing returns. In
fact, from the wit, love and craft on display here, another "Austin"
adventure promises to generate the same solid hype and eager anticipation.
"Goldswinger," anyone?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1999 Jamie Peck
E-mail: jpe...@gl.umbc.edu
Visit The Reel Deal Online: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/
This review is available online:
http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/films/austinpowers2.html
"Upon hearing word of this outrage, Star Wars' creator George Lucas (in
the throes of developing scripts for the two remaining Star Wars' films)
quickly removed all references to an upcoming character allegedly named
Stingy MacHaggis, a kilt-wearing alien who was to spend a good portion of
Episode II' drinking, picking fights and playing an alien musical
instrument that strongly resembled a set of bagpipes. He is to be replaced
by another alien character -- a formless, colorless and mute creature who
in no way resembles any culture or individual that ever existed or ever
will exist. --AAlgar on "The Phantom Menace"'s race-stereotyping
controversy
Jamey Hughton
***1/2 (out of five stars)
A review by Jamey Hughton
Starring-Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Seth Green, Michael York, Rob Lowe,
Robert Wagner, Mindy Sterling, Elizabeth Hurley and Verne Troyer
Director-Jay Roach
Rated PG
For more MOVIE VIEWS by Jamey Hughton visit:
http://welcome.to/movieviews
Vannesa Kensington: “Austin, do you smoke after sex?”
Austin Powers: “I don’t know baby, I’ve never looked!”
And so begins our journey into the most anticipated sequel of the summer
season. Austin Powers 2, the sequel to the sleeper hit of 1997, is
filled to the brim with uproarious sight gags and lurid toilet jokes
that will make you keel over with hilarity. The mind of Mike Myers is
obviously a very bizarre place.
Myers returns as the swinging 60’s spy and his arch-nemesis, the bald
headed Dr. Evil, who is given much of the spotlight here. There’s an
early scene in which Dr. Evil and his son Scott (Seth Green) appear on a
Jerry Springer segment entitled “My Dad is Evil and Wants to Take Over
the World”, hosted by Springer himself. Most of these talk-show gags,
spoofing everything from Oprah to Regis and Kathie Lee, are no longer as
funny as they once were. Happily, this is an exception, especially when
a fight breaks out between Dr. Evil and the other guests. (Sample
dialogue- “Come back here you mother #@%$^!! You want a piece of me?”)
The audience was in stitches.
There are many good things about this sequel. Dr. Evil is now assisted
by Mini-Me (Verne Troyer), a pint-sized clone who is the result of an
experiment gone awry. Mini-Me is the most perfect new character that any
fan could ask for, and Troyer does a terrific job of mimicking
everything that his big brother does, pinkie and all. Mindy Sterling
returns as Frau Farbissina, Evil’s loud-mouth assassin sidekick, and
here we are treated to a brief romantic liaison between the two in an
underground bedroom chamber. This works surprisingly well. Afterward,
there’s even a meeting at the coffee machine, where their awkwardness is
expressed in a scene you would expect in any normal office environment.
Oh, yes... the plot. After a short honeymoon with Vanessa Kensington
(Elizabeth Hurley) that goes disastrously wrong, Powers is back on the
case to thwart the diabolical plans of Dr. Evil. In the original, the
subject of the day was cryogenic freezing that enabled the characters to
hop between two time periods. Here, it’s time travel. Dr. Evil has this
crazy plan to steal Austin’s mojo (the source of his sexual powers), so
he jumps through a time portal back into 1969 when Powers is still is
his freezing chamber. There, he employs a grotesque 600-pound Scottish
assassin named Fat Bastard (also Myers) to commandeer the mojo, so that
our future hero is left completely shagless.
Meanwhile, Austin is informed of Evil’s wrong-doing by Basil Exposition
(Michael York), and is supplied with his very own time-traveling device
in the form of a Volkswagen Beetle. Once back in 1969, Powers meets a
foxy CIA operative named Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham), and learns
of Dr. Evil’s plans to destroy Washington DC with a lazer on the moon.
In one of the many uproarious jabs at Star Wars, Evil calls the moon
base a “Death Star”. If there ever was a movie that knew from the start
it was a complete joke, it’s Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
AP2 has many hilarious moments, much more so, than the original Austin
Powers. But what it doesn’t have is the confident support system that
the first boasted, and the jokes are now more scattershot and
hit-and-miss. While Myers has a knack for delivering clever, inspired
gags, he sometimes doesn’t know when to call it quits. The hilarious
scene in the original involving Mustafa (Will Ferrell) and his refusal
to die is played out here in a disappointing and tired manner. Robert
Wagner, as Dr. Evil’s #2 man, has only one scene early on in the film,
where he lacks all the focus of the character. One nice surprise is Rob
Lowe, as the young #2, who patterns Wagner’s voice and movements right
down to a tee.
There are more recycled jokes from the predecessor, including Kristen
Johnston as Ivana Humpalot (an unfunny rendition of Alotta Fagina). But
Myers has clearly put so much dedication into this project, and many
bits are side-splittingly funny. Don’t miss an extended visual gag in a
tent, where the shadows leave much to the imagination....
Of the new characters, Graham doesn’t leave much of an impression. Her
performance is merely okay, and she lacks the gung-ho enthusiasm that
made Elizabeth Hurley so enjoyable before her. And as for Fat Bastard...
well, he provides one or two hilarious moments, but all of the obesity
jokes and bathroom talk go too far.
But my most severe complaint: Mr. Bigglesworth was only in one scene!!
But, with gritted teeth, I managed to get over that. This sequel will
not leave fans disappointed; it’s more often than not a laugh riot. And,
I look optimistically to the future, where I foresee more installments
to the Austin Powers collection. If Myers can up the quota of fresh
ideas, we should be in store for much more.
(C) 1999, Jamey Hughton
........................
Jamey Hughton (15) has written a weekly column in The StarPhoenix,
Saskatoon, Sk since November, 1997.
He was a 1999 Writing Finalist in the Canadian YTV Achievement Awards.
Original Austin Powers Review
( You'll need your 'Shades')
and More
MOVIE VIEWS at:
http://welcome.to/movieviews
Contact Jamey also at: movie...@hotmail.com
..........................
Marty Mapes
Copyright 1999 Marty Mapes
*** (out of 4) Austin fans, THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME is funnier and better
than the first movie!
Actually, I should say that I found the first movie to be mediocre. The
concept was good and some jokes and scenes worked great, but the film
itself fell apart because of all the dry spells between gags. Those
spells were filled with observations on the late sixties, slavishly
worked-in spy movie references, and plot.
This one is much funnier because it borrows the successful elements from
the first and shuns what didn't work. That means more jokes, lower-brow
humor, more of that handsome Dr. Evil, and less plot. Mike Myers wrote
the first film, and this time he was joined by newcomer Michael
McCullers. Together, they seem to have worked out the kinks.
The film opens with Austin Powers (Mike Myers) leading the easy life
with his wife Vanessa (Elizabeth Hurley) now that the evil Dr. Evil
(Mike Myers) has been vanquished. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Powers, Dr.
Evil has been thawing and plotting his revenge. Dr. Evil acquires a time
machine and goes back in time to steal Austin Powers' mojo.
Later, when Austin Powers... ahh, to heck with the plot summary. You
will not care about, much less notice, the plot. There is just enough to
keep the action moving and the jokes rolling in, and that's all that
matters, isn't it?
A comedy that makes me laugh out loud comes along once, maybe twice a
year, and SHAGGED is one of them. The near-nudity gags from the original
are repeated and expanded upon, and a new verbal gag using synonyms for
"penis" is introduced (told you it was low-brow). Actually, both had my
audience (okay, I admit, me too) laughing out loud. If there is a third
Austin Powers movies, you can bet both gags will resurface.
Most importantly, Dr. Evil gets a lot more screen time than in the first
movie. He steals the show as he works out his paternal feelings both for
his son (Seth Green) and for his 1/8 size clone, Mini-Me (Verne Troyer).
Dr. Evil and Mini-Me get the biggest, best-deserved laughs.
I would certainly recommend this movie (especially if you have an
adolescent streak in you). As with most comedies, I would also recommend
seeing it in a big crowd. The fuller the theater, the funnier the jokes.
But a few tell-tale signs indicate that it may not be destined for the
next AFI top 100 list.
First is the caliber of the jokes. A few too many are grossout jokes.
Myers plays a third character, Fat Bastard, an agent of Dr. Evil's.
Myers wears a fat suit like the one made for Eddie Murphy in THE NUTTY
PROFESSOR. Naturally, since this is a comedy, we find out entirely too
much about Bastard's digestive system. As repulsed as I was, I have to
admit I laughed. But I don't know if I'll be renting this movie when I
have polite company over.
Second is the repetition of the jokes. Many of the funniest gags are
repeated. Luckily, the latest round is always just a little funnier than
the first round, but really, they're the same gag, and if you didn't
like it the first time, you'll just hate it the second time.
And finally, there are some references to Star Wars that play very well
right now because we are swamped by "Phantom Menace" pool toys and
galactic-mint Star Wars toothpaste. But in time, the Star Wars jokes
won't be quite so biting as they are now. Comedy that relies on parody
and reference (like a lot of Zucker Brothers movies) is extremely chancy
and very dated.
Based on these points, I would recommend seeing SHAGGED sooner rather
than later. I think the longer the movie has been around, the less funny
it will seem.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not panning SHAGGED. I actually had a lot of
fun. But I do feel it's necessary to temper my praise with a dose of
reality.
But having hedged my review, let me close by saying that AUSTIN POWER:
THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME is a very funny movie, and is one of the few
sequels to surpass its predecessor.
Check out more current movie reviews at http://www.moviehabit.com
--
Marty Mapes
mma...@moviehabit.com
Movie Habit
http://www.moviehabit.com
Michael Dequina
_Austin_Powers_ is one pop culture phenomenon that has flown clear over
my head. The shagadelic spy's first screen outing, 1997's
_International_Man_of_Mystery_--whose box office grosses topped out at
just north of $50 million, yet became a sensation on video--was
definitely a likable, high-energy affair, but for me, that wasn't enough
to redeem a script whose hit-and-miss stabs at humor were more amusingly
silly than genuinely hilarious. The bigger, though not necessarily
better, sequel, _The_Spy_Who_Shagged_Me_, doesn't pretend to be anything
more than it is--more of the same. Whether or not that's a good thing,
however, depends on who you are: fans of the original are indeed likely
to find this installment to be groovy (as did the rowdy fans at my
screening), but for me, it was another scattershot adventure with a few
good chuckles but not quite as funny as it believes it is--or should be.
One of the key problems I had with the original film was that about
three-quarters of the way through, the schtick of Austin Powers (Mike
Myers) was exhausted. He's a defrosted British secret agent still stuck
in the swinging '60s who is perpetually up for a shag and believes
himself to be irresistibly sexy. That's it. By the time he performed
his climactic striptease to "I Touch Myself," I wasn't laughing but
silently grinning, if even that.
After _The_Spy_Who_Shagged_Me_ gets past a brief prologue that writes
off the love interest of the previous film, Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth
Hurley), the film dives headlong into an elaborate credit sequence:
Austin prances through a hotel in the buff (with strategically placed
props, natch), culminating in an Esther Williams-style aquatic production
number. Once this is all over, Austin is, to borrow one of his catch
phrases, "spent"--creatively speaking. It's not so much that Myers,
co-writer Michael McCullers, and returning director Jay Roach do nothing
new with Austin in terms of story (again, he must thwart the
magalomaniacal Dr. Evil, who has travelled back in time to 1969 to steal
Austin's "mojo") than in terms of his thin character. Austin's "Yeah,
baby!" one-liners, retro wardrobe, bad teeth, and swinging attitude--all
mined for their entire worth and then some in
_International_Man_of_Mystery_--haven't gotten better, just older. Even
the diehards in the audience got bored; after Austin's umpteenth scene
transition dance number, one once-howling fan was overheard saying, "That
was stupid."
For me, Austin's archnemesis, the idiotic, hopelessly square, but no
less dastardly Dr. Evil (also played by Myers) was always more
interesting. Surprisingly, _The_Spy_Who_Shagged_Me_ focuses more on him
than it does Austin, and the film benefits from that fact. Unlike their
laissez-faire treatment of Austin, Myers and company have actually taken
Dr. Evil in a fresh direction. In the first film, Dr. Evil's antiquated
'60s sensibilities clashed with those of the '90s; in this one, the
opposite is the case, with his new pseudo-hip, ultra '90s mentality a
jarring anachronism in 1969. It sounds less than inspired in concept,
but in execuation it fuels the film's best moments, most of which involve
his new midget clone Mini-Me (Verne J. Troyer), whom a doting Dr. Evil
prefers to his black sheep biological son Scott (Seth Green, also
returning).
The rest of the film is a study in give and take. Heather Graham cuts a
shagadelic figure as Austin's new sidekick/love interest, CIA agent
Felicity Shagwell, but Hurley's icy hauteur in the first film made for a
more effective foil. As enjoyable as the bulk of Mini-Me's antics are,
his knock-down, drag-out fight with Austin is a less effective retread of
the MTV Movie Award-winning Ben Stiller-Puffy the Dog confrontation in
_There's_Something_About_Mary_. Rob Lowe does an even better Robert
Wagner than Wagner himself as the '60s incarnation of Dr. Evil's yes-man
Number Two (Wagner also briefly reprises his role as the '90s Number
Two), but he is underutilized.
As with the original film, my just-OK assessment of
_Austin_Powers:_The_Spy_Who_Shagged_Me_ is sure to be in the minority,
and the film's certain success will cement _Austin_Powers_ as a New Line
franchise. And as lukewarm as my take on these first two films are, I'd
welcome a third--that is, if there can somehow be an _Austin_Powers_ film
without Austin himself.
_________________________________________________________
Michael Dequina
mrb...@iname.com | michael...@geocities.com
Mr. Brown's Movie Site: http://welcome.to/mrbrown
CompuServe Hollywood Hotline: http://www.HollywoodHotline.com
__________________________________________________________
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David N. Butterworth
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 1999 David N. Butterworth
**1/2 (out of ****)
Austin Powers has lost his mojo all right. And so, unfortunately,
has Mike Myers.
In this much-anticipated follow-up to 1997's "Austin Powers:
International Man of Mystery," Myers and his co-conspirators have missed a
wonderful opportunity to improve upon the original film and given us
instead a wildly uneven romp which misses about twice as much as it hits.
The dark forces in "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" draw
consistently bigger laughs than the swinging secret agent and his latest
shag-pad material, CIA operative Felicity Shagwell (a stunningly awful
Heather Graham).
Dr. Evil (Myers) is back, hysterically so, as is his right-hand
woman, the Rosa Klebb-styled Frau Farbissina (Mindy Sterling, still having
a blast). They're joined by Dr. Evil's delinquent son (Seth Green, also
terrific) and an obese Scot with the catchy moniker of Fat Bastard. Played
by Myers under what seems to be three metric tonnes of makeup and
prosthetics, Fat Bastard is a repulsive cross between Monty Python's Mr.
Creosote (from "The Meaning of Life") and Charlie MacKenzie's father in "So
I Married an Axe Murderer." Myers has the accent down perfectly and his
Fat Bastard is a welcome, if gross, addition to the film's eccentric roster
of villains.
Also in tow in "The Spy Who Shagged Me" is a one-eighth-the-size
version of Dr. Evil. "I shall call him <pinkie to the lower lip> Mini Me."
Mini Me (played by Verne Troyer) is another brainstorm; too bad they
couldn't have come up with a kitten-sized version of Mr. Bigglesworth. And
last but not least there's Rob Lowe as the young Number Two, who does a
better Robert Wagner than Robert Wagner.
Whenever the bad guys are on screen, especially Dr. Evil, the film
is a hoot. One of the film's funniest lines comes when Dr. Evil is going
through his "zip it" routine with his son Scott. But the writers don't do
anything with Austin except to land him with the great-looking but
hopelessly-afloat Graham. A brief but satisfying appearance by the
original film's Elizabeth Hurley only reinforces just how bad Graham is.
Austin flashes his bad teeth and growls "groovy baby, yeah!" but
his character is becoming very repetitive and Myers himself doesn't seem to
know how to extend his creation. So the film settles for a lot of
unwelcome bathroom and bodily orifice humor. And I mean a lot. Austin
Powers accidentally mistaking a stool sample for coffee? Felicity
"retrieving" things from Austin on all-fours in silhouette? You have to
believe that Myers and his co-writer Michael McCullers can do better, much
better, than that.
"Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" has some terrific sight
gags, several outrageously funny product placements, a bunch of inspired
cameo performances (Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello *not* included), a
cleverly-edited sequence in which various people comment on the phallic
nature of Dr. Evil's spaceship, and a wonderful throng of evildoers who ham
it up at every possible opportunity.
But for those of us who expect a little more from the extremely
talented Mike Myers, the psychedelic love machine in his Carnaby Street
duds is--at least for the time being--all shagged out.
--
David N. Butterworth
d...@dca.net
John Sylva
http://members.aol.com/DeWyNGaLe
"I'm throwing you a frickin' bone!"
- Dr. Evil
Mike Myers, you certainly did throw us a 素rickin' bone here in what you call
奏he biggest Austin Powers adventure yet.' Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged
me is the sequel to the 1997 smash comedy Austin Powers: International Man of
Mystery. Many are skeptical about sequels, saying that the sequel is never
better or as good as the original, but Austin Powers: TSWSM goes beyond the
first film.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me stars Mike Myers in three different
roles. He reprises his role as the title character, Austin Powers, the
shagadelic spy whose body was frozen in 1967, and unfrozen in 1997 to stop his
long time nemesis Dr. Evil, also played by Mike Myers, from destroying the
earth. TSWSM leaves off where the original stopped, with Dr. Evil's 詮risch's
Big Boy' space capsule floating through space. Dr. Evil returns back to earth
by ejecting from his capsule, plotting to go back in his time machine to the
year 1967, in which he plans to steal Austin Powers' "mojo", what keeps Austin
going with spy talents. Upon his return to his secret lair, which is now a
Starbucks coffee shop, Dr. Evil learns that his evil henchman, which includes
the returning Robert Wagner as Number 2 and Mindy Sterling as Frau, have
created a 1/8 size clone of Dr. Evil, which is later named Mini Me. The evil
Mini Me replaces Scott Evil, played by Seth Green, as Dr. Evil's son in the
madman's mind, because Dr. Evil thinks of Scott to be only "quasi-evil." Dr.
Evil has always wanted a son that is evil just like him, and now he has one.
Dr. Evil tells Mini Me, "You complete me," in a loving manner. Dr. Evil
loving? Wow! Mike Myers' third role is as Fat Bastard, a Scottish henchman of
Dr. Evil's, who is sent to steal the mojo from Austin Powers' frozen body.
Austin Powers learns of Dr. Evil's trip back into the 60s, and uses his own
time machine to take him back to 1967, to try to save his mojo before Fat
Bastard gets a hold of it. Once arriving in the year 1967, Austin travels to
his "pad", his smashing home/dance club, where he meets Felicity Shagwell,
played by Heather Graham, a CIA Agent who is willing to help him in his journey
to stop Dr. Evil.
As the film progresses, hilarious one liners are thrown at us, mainly by Dr.
Evil, for example, "Don't go there, girlfriend!" to the President of the United
States. Many witty gags take place, note the entire tent scene, and just
plain, funny scenes which are so stupid- they're funny come a dozen per fifteen
minutes. Take for example, Scott Evil going on The Jerry Springer Show
complaining about how evil his father is. The way Austin Powers: TSWSM uses
its humor is clever, throwing a hilarious scene at you, followed by five
minutes of one liners, followed by another outrageous scene, so you never stop
laughing. There was honestly not one moment in Austin Powers: TSWSM where I
wasn't laughing. The last film that I laughed so hard in, was well, Austin
Powers! It is apparent that Mike Myers knew how funny this film was while
writing it. The film even makes fun of itself in a line, something along the
lines of, "It's funny how England and southern California look nothing alike."
TSWSM was filmed in southern California, but was supposed to take place in
England. I can tell you one thing- He is having a lot of fun with this
enormously popular character, which is all over television, newspapers,
magazines, and the movie theaters.
I believe that Dr. Evil got more attention in the TSWSM than Austin Powers did.
Dr. Evil provided more laughs, more memorable moments, and more interesting
dialogue than Austin did this time around, who seems to missing the funny touch
that he had in the first film. I felt that Austin really did have his mojo
taken away, but from screenplay writer Mike Myers, not Fat Bastard.
Also making a great addition to the series is Mini Me, who is played by Verne
Troyer. Even though the midget actor is 30 years old, he is adorable by Dr.
Evil's side constantly.
The first Austin Powers film had barely any sentimental quality, such as lack
of character development, barely any detailed plot characteristics, and barely
any good acting, but Austin Powers TSWSM actually shows some quality behind the
frequent humor. Mike Myers, with his three roles, acts as Eddie Murphy did in
The Nutty Professor, disguising himself completely in one of the roles. (Fat
Bastard) All three characters are different, and Mike Myers does do a good job
handling each one of them. Heather Graham made a great addition with her
talent to TSWSM, and does a much better job than Elizabeth Hurley did, who gave
a very flat performance in the original, speaking her lines without any feeling
or emotion. Speaking of Hurley, she can be seen in TSWSM for a few brief
moments. Hopefully, Graham tags along for future Austin Powers adventures.
The Bottom Line- A groovy sequel that Mike Myers put all of his mojo into
writing.
Eugene Novikov
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov
http://www.ultimate-movie.com
Member: Online Film Critics Society
***1/2 out of four
"Whereever we go... There we are."
Starring Mike Meyers, Heather Graham, Seth Green, Verne Troyer. Rated
PG-13 (but should be R).
When a someone journeys to the theater to see a comedy, he always risks
having to sit through inanity such as what we recently saw in films like
EDtv and Office Space. It really is too bad that comedies are so hit-
and-miss, because when a moviegoer goes in a theater expecting to be
amused, it really is a shame when the alleged comedy fails to deliver.
But weep not, dear readers, because the latest comedy out of the
Hollywood movie mill is nothing less than a sure bet. Austin Powers: The
Spy Who Shagged Me is one of the funniest things I've had the pleasure
to see in a long time; a completely looney, delightful parody of the
often pretentious James Bond flicks. If all comedies (or even half; or -
- what am I saying? -- even a fifth of them) could be this consistently
hysterical, I would take up residence at my local multiplex.
Even more to this movie's credit is the fact that it is a sequel to the
1997 sleeper/cult hit Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. The
original came out of nowhere; it was a low-budget, eccentric movie that
many expected to flop like a Leslie Nielsen parody. All of a sudden it
was being quoted by teenagers all over America. Ironically, Powers'
"Yeeeeah baby, yeah!" has almost become an icon of the late 90s.
Thus another installment was inevitable, but it's also undoubtedly
welcome. The Spy Who Shagged Me is one of the most unrestrained, over-
the-top comedies I have ever seen in my entire life. It brings back most
of the characters from its predecessor (even if only briefly) and adds
new ones. Austin Powers (Mike Myers), a swinging hipster from the 60s
transported into the 90s has to go back to his own time to get back his
mojo (oh, you'll figure it out), which Dr. Evil (Meyers again) has
stolen. He enlists the help of a gorgeous secret agent Felicity Shagwell
(now that his prior sidekick Vanessa has been properly disposed of in a
hilarious opening sequence), played without much distinguishable gusto
by Heather Graham and together they go back to the 60s to defeat Dr.
Evil yet again.
Surprisingly, the real star is Dr. Evil rather than Austin. He gets most
of the screen time because he was so popular in the first movie. Perhaps
this is true because he is portrayed and written so affectionately.
Instead of being the scheming, villainous mad scientist we might expect
from a character like this he is a bumbling, often sweet mad scientist
wannabe.
The Spy Who Shagged Me has much of the same stuff we saw in the
original, but that's okay by me because the original left us wanting
more. By the time that one was over we haven't had nearly our share of
shag jokes, crude puns and Powers' antics and this sequel satisfies our
appetites. Even by its conclusions, I'm still not sure I've had my fill
of bits like "Do you smoke after sex?" "I don't know, baby, I never
looked."
This may seem awfully immature of me, but understand that the Austin
Powers series, unlike most of the crap Hollywood feeds us these days, is
genuinely funny. I don't know if I've ever laughed harder at any movie
than I did during the Jerry Springer send up or the indubitably
hilarious "Just the Two of Us" rendition by Dr. Evil and his new
miniature clone named "Mini-me".
I don't have any pretensions that this is particularly smart social
satire or anything of the sort. Indeed there is little beyond the joy a
viewer feels when he sees something that is able to entertain him as
much as this movie did. But as far as I'm concerned, that is enough.
©1999 Eugene Novikov
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Robert Workman
AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME
"I'm dead sexy!" yells an enormously large Scottish man, hellbent on
catching Dr. Evil's notoriously evil (and midget-like) twin Mini-Me for
a quick snack. "Get in my belly!!" he bellows, and Mini-Me quickly
scampers back to Dr. Evil, who's hesitant on letting the guy (Fat
Bastard is his name) use his crapper.
It's moments like this absolutely ridiculous one that make Austin
Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me just as much a fun romp as the original.
Mike Myers shows he hasn't lost any creativity, and, through lots of
comic timing, comes up a winner with a hilarious, if slightly
overwrought, sequel.
Basically, the story begins roughly where the first one left off. The
honeymoon ends quickly for Austin and his new bride Vanessa (Elizabeth
Hurley in a funny cameo), and soon Austin is thwarted by the efforts of
his nemesis Dr. Evil, who's making it personal- this time, he's after
Austin's "life force", his mojo.
That leads Austin to travel back to 1969 to try and retrieve his mojo,
before Dr. Evil gets any bright ideas and uses it himself. (Of course,
a scene where he gets a taste of the mojo is funny as hell.) There,
Austin teams up with Felicity Shagwell (a very sexy Heather Graham),
who's just as horny as he is...er, was. Along the way, we're introduced
to many characters, including the aforementioned Fat Bastard and
Mini-Me, as well as a younger Number Two (Rob Lowe), the ill-fated
Mustafa (Will Ferrell), and Dr. Evil's sarcastic son Scott (Seth Green).
Sure, the movie has some slight dull spots, and I think the gags
involving product placement were a slight bit overrun (Fat Bastard's
take on the Chili's song was pretty funny, though), but a lot of the
movie has inspiration, something a sequel usually lacks. There's some
great new gags here, a gaggle of cool cameos (from Tim Robbins to Woody
Harrelson to...you guessed it...Jerry Springer), and, of course, more
"evil" than you can shake a stick at. It's all in fun, and the overall
product is very shagadelic.
RATING: 8 (out of 10)
The Happy Bastard (no relation to Fat)
Bob Bloom
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) 2 stars out of 4. Starring
Mike Myers, Mike Myers, Mike Myers, Heather Graham and Michael York.
Austin Powers is back, bad teeth, elephantine libido and all. And like in
the original, Mike Myers has stretched a one-joke premise to the breaking
point.
"Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" is more of a series of sketches
and shtick, rather than a cohesive, follow-the-plot feature.
I mean, how can it be anything else considering Myers' free-flow imagination.
No, what "The Spy Who Shagged Me" is really is a Valentine to the 1960s
and the spy melodramas that proliferated during that era. The super-stud,
super-agents such as Bond and Flint who could kill a man with one hand
while caressing a woman with the other.
Those who loved the first Austin Powers movie will undoubtedly enjoy this
sequel, which is basically more of the same. Those who felt the original
movie was stupid and childish are advised that they are taking their
chances here.
For like the original, the humor in "The Spy Who Shagged Me" is that kind
of juvenile, smuttiness, double-entendre jokiness we all thought was so
cool in junior high school.
The premise of "The Spy Who Shagged Me" is quite simple. Austin Powers'
nemesis, Dr. Evil (also Myers), travels back to 1969 and steals Powers'
mojo - his libidinous life force. The theft doesn't seem to incapacitate
our hero, or even slow him down. It merely keeps him from bedding luscious
CIA agent Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham), while Dr. Evil tries to carry
out his nefarious plan to extort millions from the nations of the world.
The movie does have some funny bits: Dr. Evil trying to reconcile with his
estranged son, Scott, on "The Jerry Springer Show"; a romantic sidewalk
interlude during which Austin and Felicity dance to "I'll Never Fall in
Love Again," as played by Burt Bacharach and sung by Elvis Costello; and
most of all two very well-edited sequences in which people around the world
see Dr. Evil's spaceship - which has a very distinctive shape - and
continually use phallic euphemisms and slang to call attention to it.
Graham is deliciously funny as Shagwell, entering the spirit of the
enterprise with a twinkle in her eyes and a smile on her lips.
Myers, of course, is becoming a master at the knowing nod, the mischievous
pause that lets the audience know that he, too, is in on the joke, whether
he is portraying Austin Powers or Dr. Evil.
However most of the tomfoolery that comes between the sequences seems like
empty filler.
Even the introduction of some new characters, including Mini-Me, a
diminutive double of Dr. Evil, and Fat Bastard, a one-ton slovenly killer
Scot, also portrayed by Myers, cannot cover the cracks in silly going-ons.
Myers and co-screenwriter Michael McCullers constantly walk the edge of
bad taste, but skirt it with a wink and a smile.
"The Spy Who Shagged Me," honestly, is a movie no one in their right mind
can take seriously. It is a spoof, a parody, but its flaw is that it
continually meanders around trying to cram in too many affectionate riffs
about the 1960s.
A little more discipline and a lot less scatology and sex jokes would have
made for a better - and funnier - picture.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN.
He can be reached by e-mail at bl...@journal-courier.com or at
cbl...@iquest.net
Dustin Putman
Directed by Jay Roach.
Cast: Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Michael York, Mindy Sterling, Seth Green,
Verne J. Troyer, Rob Lowe, Robert Wagner, Kristen Johnston, Will Ferrell, Gia
Carides, Elizabeth Hurley, Clint Howard, Willie Nelson, Woody Harrelson, Tim
Robbins, Jerry Springer.
1999 - 95 minutes
Rated PG-13 (for scatalogical, gross-out humor, profanity, and sexual
situations).
Reviewed June 12, 1999.
When the original "Austin Powers" was released in 1997, it didn't make that
great deal of an impression and was never really expected to, but it garnered
many positive reviews, had low drop-off box-office rates each week, and
became a pop-culture phenomenon once it hit video stores. Now we have "Austin
Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," which will be sure to go down as one of the
few sequels to do better financially than its predecessor (if the sold-out
crowd I saw it with is any indication). The terms, "Yeah, baby, yeah!" and
"let's shag, baby," have been ingrained in most moviegoers' minds due to the
original, and when was the last time a movie created its own vernacular, and
audiences followed?
Getting off to a brisk, but disappointing start, this film continues where
the first left off, with Austin Powers (Mike Myers) and Vanessa Kensington
(Elizabeth Hurley) on their romantic honeymoon. Within five minutes time, it
is discovered that Vanessa was a dreaded fembot all along, a henchman of Dr
Evil's (Myers). Realizing he's a single man again, Austin doesn't take too
much time grieving before he learns that Dr. Evil has created a time machine,
gone back to 1969 when Austin was cryogenically frozen, and stolen his
"mojo." In hot pursuit, Austin time travels back to the swingin' '60s
himself, meets up with beautiful and "randy" CIA agent Felicity Shagwell
(Heather Graham), and together they set out to get his "mojo" back. But
that's not all, as Dr. Evil also is plotting to destroy Washington, D.C. if
his demands (several billion dollars) aren't met.
"Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" has, thankfully, created the same
atmosphere that the mildly successful first one set up. From the first frame
to the last, it is apparent that we've stepped back into the world of Austin
Powers, but that doesn't mean that the new movie is as good, and it isn't.
For one thing, the whole prologue is a gigantic betrayal of both Austin
Powers fans and Elizabeth Hurley. Making her turn out to be a fembot will,
from now on, seriously put a damper on the way people watch the original,
because now we know that she didn't even actually care about him at all, but
was on the "evil side." It also creates a noticably large plot hole: If
Vanessa Kensington was a fembot, then her mother, Mrs. Kensington (played by
Mimi Rogers in the original), also had to have been, and this little fact is
not dealt with at all in the uneven screenplay, by Mike Myers and Michael
McCullers. If Hurley didn't want to appear for more than a brief cameo, the
filmmakers surely could have thought of a stronger way for her to go out.
Just watching "Austin Powers" right before I saw its sequel, I noticed
another downfall. While the first one was not hilarious, it was light,
charming, and occasionally funny. In "The Spy Who Shagged Me," there might be
some bigger laughs (the sure-to-be-classic "tent scene" comes to mind), but
there are also just as many jokes that fall astoundingly flat, and others
that are merely recycled. The film has opted for the
"everything-but-the-kitchen-sink" approach, and in doing so, has forgotten
about all of the returning characters who, in essence, are nothing more than
extended cameos. Seth Green, as Dr. Evil's misunderstood son, Scott, comes
close to breaking out into his own person (especially when he appears on a
Jerry Springer episode, entitled "My Father is Evil and Wants to Take Over
the World"), but there is no payoff. Robert Wagner, as another of Dr. Evil's
henchmen, Number 2, has all of one scene, until Dr. Evil goes back in time
and the role is taken over by the younger Rob Lowe (who does a killer
impression of Wagner). Mindy Sterling has a few nice moments as assistant
Frau Farbissina who, midway through, has a steamy affair with Dr. Evil, and
later shares an uncomfortable moment with him by the coffee machine.
The new characters are a memorable, if underused, bunch. Taking over the
romantic interest role from Hurley, Heather Graham is energetic and has
proven to be a fine actress (see 1997's "Boogie Nights" or 1989's "Drugstore
Cowboy" for proof), but here doesn't get to stretch her acting muscles, and
her relationship with Austin feels a little more forced than that of Vanessa
and he. The bright spot in the film is Mini Me (Verne J. Troyer), a clone of
Dr. Evil, only 1/8 his size. Troyer is often hysterical and even cute, and
his relationship with Dr. Evil is actually a sweet one. Going for a "Nutty
Professor"/Eddie Murphy type of deal, Myers has given himself a third role,
as Fat Bastard, a repugnant Scot who weighs a "metric ton" and, at one point,
has a disgusting roll in the hay with one of the female characters. In the
wasted department are the two femme fatales, Ivana Humpalot (Kristen
Johnston) and Robin "maiden-name's-Spits" Swallows (Gia Carides), who show
up, do their thang, and quickly disappear.
Of course, in the forefront of the whole operation is Mike Myers, who is
comic dynamite and doesn't disappoint. Much of the joy that comes from
watching Myers (whether it be as Austin or Wayne) is actually watching him.
He clearly has a great love for performing, and especially for his Powers
character, and his talent only shines through more when considering all of
the different roles he plays here. You know going in that Dr. Evil is also
played by Myers, but while watching him, it's easy to forget such a thing
because of how utterly convincing he is.
With "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," what you see is what you get.
There is certainly no deep meanings behind anything that occurs within the
95-minute running time, and it has a fast pace so your mind won't wander too
much. The fact that a third "Austin Powers" movie will probably be coming out
at this time in 2001 is a given, but after seeing his second adventure, you
have to wonder how many times the same jokes can be played out before they
start to overstay their welcome. Having Austin say "yeah, baby, yeah!" was
amusing the first time around, but it isn't here. And judging from this
not-bad, but lackluster first sequel, Myers should start brainstorming his
ideas now for the next installment. A little bit of variety and originality
may very well come in handy in the future.
- Copyright 1999 by Dustin Putman
Http://hometown.aol.com/FilmFan16/index.html
Jesse Kopelman
Here we have the superior sequel to Austin Powers: International Man of
Mystery. This time Austin's nemesis, Dr. Evil, has traveled back in time to
steal our hero's mojo. Of course, Austin has no choice but to revisit his
swinging past in an attempt to regain said mojo and prevent Dr. Evil from
conquering the world. At its best, this movie is far funnier than the law
allows. Unfortunately, there are several slow spots with nary a chuckle.
Most of these unfunny moments involve Austin's romancing of Felicity
Shagwell. The romance does provide many a funny moment, but the film dwells
on it in too much detail. Besides, the funniest scenes are those involving
Dr. Evil, not Austin Powers. It just goes to show you -- Evil will win,
because Good is dumb! Anyway, this movie would be worth seeing just for the
hilarious credits, both beginning and ending, and it offers far more. I have
to give a final word of praise to two of the supporting actors. Seth Green
is brilliant as Dr. Evil's not evil enough son and Rob Lowe does a
fantastic Robert Wagner impression.
Rating: Very Good
Ratings go like this: Abominable, Bad, Fair, Good, Very Good, Great, and
Perfect. As you might guess, most movies are Fair to Good. Very few movies
are either Abominable or Perfect.
--
Jesse Kopelman - theb...@paonline.com
"It's not worth leaving, until you've worn out your welcome."
wcha...@netcom.ca
-a review by Bill Chambers ( sha...@filmfreakcentral.net )
[Reviews! DVD stuff! Contests! @ Film Freak Central
http://filmfreakcentral.net
Bring a friend!]
I can’t wait to revisit Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. 1997’s
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery failed to light up my life
the first time I saw it; I felt no urge afterwards to utter Austin’s
catchphrases, among them "Yeah, baby, yeah" and "Shag-adelic!"
Subsequent viewings of the film somehow improved its comedy; by the
time I received Austin Powers... on DVD for Christmas, I was a
full-fledged fan. The Spy Who Shagged Me features as many guffaws as
its predecessor, but I left the screening feeling again amused but
unenamoured.
This sequel picks up almost immediately where the first picture left
off. After the luminous Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley) makes a
startling revelation to Austin (Myers) during their honeymoon, the
superspy is off once again to do battle with Dr. Evil (also Myers).
This time, the bald, scarred, pale madman has devised a time machine,
which he uses to go back to the sixties. There, with the aid of his
pint-size clone Mini-Me (Troyer) and an obese bagpiper (who eats
babies) named Fat Bastard (Myers, in repulsive make-up), he locates
Austin Powers’ cryogenically frozen body and steals his mojo. Nineties
Austin is rendered impassive to espionage and randy women, so he
travels thirty years into the past to get his groove back. At his old
pad, he hooks up with sexy Felicity Shagwell (heart melting, doe-eyed
Graham), and together they search for Dr. Evil’s volcanic lair.
Despite much crass humour that follows (including an endless anal sex
jape), The Spy Who Shagged Me is ultimately sweet. The film covers no
new ground in terms of homage to bygone spy thrillers, and very little
of the humour is innovative, but its genteel tone smoothes over the
laughless bumps.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is only casually interested in
telling us a complete story. Mostly, it’s a showcase for Myers' range
and improvisational skills. (Duh.) Austin, Dr. Evil, and Fat Bastard
are such distinct characters that one will not likely scan for
split-screen lines when any combination of them is on camera together.
"Distinct," however, doesn’t necessarily mean "rich." Austin, for all
his signature attributes (the rotting teeth, the velvet suits, the
soundbite-ready dialogue), sends-up popular British TV and movie
secret agents who were never taken seriously in the first place. Watch
a swinger like "The Avengers"’ John Steed (played with pursed-lip
winkingness by Patrick Macnee in several incarnations) or the mod
criminals Steed pursued in action and you’ll see prototypes for Austin
Powers rather than ripe targets for parody. Austin the man is a
one-note joke whose only real appeal is his promiscuity—it’s been too
long since we’ve had a hero who lives and breathes for sex. (Aside: a
naked Austin once again prances around buck naked, but his private
parts aren’t so cleverly disguised in The Spy Who Shagged Me—in fact,
digital trickery appears to have erased them altogether.)
In other words, Austin is amusing but Dr. Evil is the star of this
show. Much funnier than Austin’s non-sequitor gags, such as a lame
montage involving the Queen’s guards set to "I’m a Believer," are Dr.
Evil’s non-sequitor gags. It is through the desperately uncool Dr.
Evil that Myers and company skewer: the Jerry Springer show (in
two very funny sequences—be sure to stay through the end credits);
1996’s The Island of Dr. Moreau remake (Dr. Evil and Mini-Me perform a
hilarious piano duet of Joan Osborne’s "One of Us"); Jerry Maguire;
time travel movies; and, of course, James Bond. There are also amusing
subplots involving Dr. Evil’s sampling of Austin’s mojo and the
strained relationship between the doctor and his logic-prone son,
Scott (Green). (As before, Scott is constantly told to shut up by his
father, here in umpteen variations on "zip it." My favourite: "Ladies
and gentlemen of the court, exzipit ‘A.’")
The audience I watched it with cheered the antics of both Austin and
Dr. Evil. (Perhaps I will, too, one day.) Based on crowd reaction, The
Spy Who Shagged Me will see smashing box office returns. While I have
reservations about recommending it, I would never begrudge it of
success.
-June, 1999
Homer Yen
by Homer Yen
(c) 1999
If there’s one thing I admire about Austin Powers-the man (Mike Myers),
it’s that he has a boundless amount of energy and feel-good silliness
that could make the grayest skies turn blue. He’s a manic, I
want-to-fight-evil-and-shag machine that’s constantly working in
overdrive. Austin Powers will always be the man that every girl wants
and the only one who can thwart the mad schemes of power-hungry Dr.
Evil (also played by Mike Myers). Dr. Evil knows that he can’t defeat
Powers because the latter possesses something called ‘mojo’, the
essence of what makes a man a man. Having this enables a person to
have confidence, appeal, and ‘shagability’. Powers’s mojo is
especially strong. So, he plans to steal it. He presumes that if
Powers is mojoless, he won’t have the self-confidence needed to defeat
him. But as the story progresses, Powers learns a life-affirming
lesson that ‘mojo’ isn’t what makes a man. It’s something far greater
than what his playful mind can ever imagine. And what is it? I think
that Austin, between shags, is still trying to figure it out.
If you’ve seen the first “Austin Powers,” then you’re already familiar
with the premise of this film. At its core, it is a parody of every
James Bond flick that has ever been released. And for the most part,
it’ll put a smile on your face. You have the femme fatales with the
libidinous names such as Robin Swallows and Ivana Humpalott. Power’s
also teams up with a CIA operative (Heather Graham) named Felicity
Shagwell (“Shagwell in name and shag very well in reputation,” she
growls). There is the standout henchman with an oddball name who
possesses a special evil talent, in this case named Fat Bastard (also
played by Myers). There are the secret lairs hidden beneath volcanoes
and even a pursuit that takes everyone to the moon where Dr. Evil hopes
to execute his grand plan.
Each of these elements is milked for all its worth and these kinds of
silly exaggerations are something that any James Bond-loving fan can
laugh at. But there are also the nuggets of comedy that make this more
enjoyable than the standard parody.
The opening credits features Powers strutting stark naked through a
hotel, but manages to hide his ‘jewels’ from the audiences’ view by
cleverly standing behind a large banana, a loaf of French bread, a
carefully placed pinwheel, and other assorted, suggestive items.
Another clever sequence involved a series of scenes featuring people
all unknowingly making references to a man’s sexual organ. This is a
scene that must be watched in order to be appreciated. I also like his
underappreciated, underloved son (Seth Green). He and his evil father
go on the Jerry Springer show where his Dad says, “you are the Diet
Coke of evil – just one calorie – not evil enough.”
What made the first one super-groovy, however, was that Austin and Dr.
Evil were products of the ‘60s, living in the ’90. They were both
absurdly out of touch with reality, and that was funny. This obvious
target for laughs is not exploited here, and it instead relies on a
formula of straight parody. The result sometimes borders on
Saturday-Night-Live-Skit-Mediocrity. Half-way through the film, laughs
were harder to come by and too much time was devoted to Fat Bastard,
whom I found annoying. Fortunately, Mike Myers shows commitment to his
character and zest for his antics. What’s not to like?
Grade: B
_________________________________________________________
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Brian Takeshita
A Film Review by Brian Takeshita
Rating: **1/2 out of ****
When AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY made its debut in
1997, it was an idea whose time had come. Mixing dead-on spoof with
hilarious conventional comedy, the film was a continuous, unrelenting
laugh-fest that poked fun at the 1960's secret agent movie genre.
It's sequel, AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME, attempts to carry
on in the same tradition, but unfortunately fails to entertain as well
as it's predecessor.
Mike Myers returns as British super spy Austin Powers, frozen in the
60's and thawed out in the 90's to combat his arch nemesis Dr. Evil
(also played by Myers). At the end of the previous film, Dr. Evil
escaped capture by sending himself into space in a giant Bob's Big Boy
statue. The beginning of THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME features the evil Dr.
Evil returning from the cold reaches of Earth orbit, bent upon
destroying Austin Powers by traveling back in time to 1967, when
Powers was still frozen, and stealing the life force that makes him a
successful international operative: His "mojo." Dr. Evil is
convinced that once the constantly randy Powers is robbed of his
libido, his ability to thwart the plans of the world's dark forces
will be sapped for good (or bad, as the case may be). Powers must
therefore pursue Dr. Evil into the past in order to save the world and
his ability to shag.
As I mentioned earlier, THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME attempts to capitalize
upon what worked so well for the first film. This means there is
still a lot of parody of movies like DR. NO and OUR MAN FLINT, and
even the Patrick Magoohan television series "The Prisoner." In many
cases, this works very effectively, such as when Dr. Evil builds his
secret hideout in the middle of an active volcano on a secluded
island, or whenever Powers gets into an automobile and the background
immediately looks like pre-filmed scenery. However, many of the jokes
we get in THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME are also just retreads from the last
film without sufficiently new angles to make them as funny the second
time around, such as when one of Dr. Evil's henchmen just won't die,
or when Powers goes romping naked through a hotel lobby. Both jokes
were brilliantly executed in 1997, but this time they are by nature
less inspired and fall relatively flat.
Undeveloped jokes are actually a serious problem in this film, a
result of screenwriting lapses and poor directorial choices. For
example, the Evil empire invested heavily in Starbucks, and now the
Evil headquarters is located in the Seattle Space Needle. As Dr.
Evil's right hand man Number Two (Robert Wagner) explains, it was a
great investment because Starbucks offers "premium coffee at
affordable prices." The utter ridiculousness of this proposition,
along with the plausibility of the empire association (Amazon.com
could have been another good choice), presents many opportunities for
further comedic exploitation throughout the film. Picture Frappucino
machines lifting themselves off of their mounts and walking down the
street wreaking havoc. It's too bad the possibilities weren't pursued
further. Additionally, there are instances where a character will say
something which seems to be a lead into a punchline, but the dialog
immediately moves on to something else, leaving the audience hanging
and confused. A good director would have recognized this and
rectified the situation on the set or in the editing room.
The saving grace for this movie is that when the jokes do hit the
mark, they hit solidly. Most of the time, the Dr. Evil character
steals the show, but one of Dr. Evil's henchmen, Fat Bastard (also
played by Myers) may be the most outrageous. Drooling and inflated
with the notion that he's a sexy man, he also once ate a baby. Myers
has played over-the-top Scotsmen on Saturday Night Live and in SO I
MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER, and Fat Bastard seems to be the next logical
step in the progression.
The other actors in the film are pretty much window dressing, although
they do what they can. Robert Wagner only has a small role as Number
Two before the film moves to 1969, and a younger Number Two is played
by Rob Lowe, who does a great Wagner impression. Seth Green as Dr.
Evil's son, Scott Evil, is under-used and has a lot less screen time
than he did in the last movie. Mindy Sterling returns as henchwoman
Frau Farbissina, and Elizabeth Hurley has a short performance as
Secret Service agent Vanessa Kensington. Powers' new love interest
and action partner is portrayed by Heather Graham as CIA agent
Felicity Shagwell, but she doesn't live up to the better performance
by Hurley the last film. I realize THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME is a
comedy, but Graham just doesn't hold up in the scenes which require
more than a pretty face. Disappointing, considering her wonderful
acting in BOOGIE NIGHTS, and I have a feeling the direction had more
to do with this than anything else.
One of the new characters in this film is a one-eighth sized clone of
Dr. Evil, which he dubs Mini Me (Verne Troyer). I was impressed by
the fact that the film got a lot of mileage out of this diminutive
character who has no spoken lines, but actually helps the plot along
in addition to providing a lot of laughs. In the end, however, Mini
Me is somewhat of a metaphor for this follow up to AUSTIN POWERS:
INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY. It comes from the same stock as the
original, but it's a lot less.
Review posted June 13, 1999
Cheng-Jih Chen
while having my breakfast cereal, I see in the newspaper that "Austin
Powers" has utterly crushed "Star Wars" this weekend. Ah, well, it's
definitely a funnier film.
Uttering "Austin Powers" and "Star Wars" in the same breath isn't an
outlandish thing. "Austin Powers" had at least a few "Star Wars"
references, from its advertising campaign to the opening text crawl.
We can take it a bit further, and say that Dr. Evil is, like, the
lightsabre duel, Austin himself was sort of like the Pod Race, and no
one was Jar Jar Binks. Well, I could have done with less Fat Bastard,
but I don't think, Fat Bastard Die Die Die. "Austin Powers" is a very
consistently funny movie, without many soft spots. Some things go on
for too long, like your typical SNL skit, but not many.
What plot there is centers on Dr. Evil going back in time to steal
Austin's mojo. This is basically an excuse to wander into all sorts of
shameless product placements, the most inspired of which is the one for
the new Volkswagen Beetle; psychedelic Sixties theme park fun with
Heather Graham in short-shorts; and some very neat jokes with clueless,
displaced Sixties personalities who have seen the future but have now
been sent back to their home turf. Dr. Evil trying and badly failing
to use late 1990s-isms was inspired ("One hundred billion dollars!"), a
sort of conscious set of reversals from the usual man-out-of-time
idioms. Austin himself was less interesting in this regard.
I'm starting to think that cultural critics of the 21st Century will
recognize Jerry Springer as a brilliant auteur, conjuring forth a
subtle performance art piece on a daily basis, casting it as a lewd
talk show in order for his devastating social criticism of fin-de-siecle
America to reach the widest audience in the most subversive way
possible. But I could be wrong. I've only watched one of his shows,
when I was on sick leave last year.
I actually didn't like the original movie all that much. It plodded
along: once you get the idea of spy movie-spoof guys from the 1960s
trying to make it thirty years later, you have a lot of the joke.
That's material for half-hour sitcoms (South Park actually had a
wonderful episode of this, with an ice man from 1996 being revived in
1999: Land's End, Ace of Base, and the Internet was difficult to get
on), not feature-length films. This new movie just works better by not
paying much attention to that idea, by self-consciously pointing out
how silly the movie is ("It's remarkable how much the English
countryside looks like southern California", and the London street
scene with sun-burnt hills in the background), and by playing with the
aforementioned man-out-of-time-back-in-time jokes.
Oh, stay for the entire credits. Little skits in the credits. And the
DVD for this movie _must_, absolutely _must_ have karaoke.
Greg Wyshynski
MONDAY MORNING MOVIE WATCHER
This is the debut of my film reviews here on this ng. Any portion of it is
considered public domain with attribution, so feel free to post it where
ever. I'm between web page hosts right now, but I will post the new home
for the reviews when I find one.
*NOTE*
"Monday Morning Movie Watcher is an informal review that takes all facets
of the movie experience into effect, including crowd reaction,
anticipation for the film, assorted "hype" surrounding the film, and
ultimately what the box office and overall reaction for the film was after
the initial weekend of release. In other words, I'm not trying to be
Pauline Kael here people, just a product of late 20th century
mass-media pop culture."
"Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" (Released June 11, 1999)
Caught the sequel to Austin Powers at the AMC Academy in Greenbelt, MD.
Since the theater is next door to a college town, my companion and I
caught a late matinee in fear of a sell-out that evening.
Like most AMC theaters, this one relies on a very loud sound system to
compensate for a lack of a dynamic stereo set-up, but I've found it to be
a good place to watch a film.
A fairly large crowd for a Friday matinee rolled in, filling the seats
(and the film's mostly young male demographics) well.
THE TRAILERS:
"Big Daddy" - The Sandler movie looks to be a jump back towards his
"Wedding Singer" success. Having now seen this trailer a bunch of times, I
have a new concern about the film -- what if the trailer's all its got?
"The Iron Giant" - Very highly anticipated by those in the know, but an
unknown quantity for those in today's audience. I love the design of the
Giant, and the film looks like a nice take on the "boy finds freak" story.
But this may suffer the same fate as every other non-Disney offering. The
reaction from the crowd was less than thrilling. I just can't see kids
getting that enthused over this film after what should be a jolt of
excitement from "Tarzan."
"Detroit Rock City" - a nice trailer that seems to suggest a cross between
"Dazed and Confused" and a road movie. It's got a nice feel to it, looks
good, and might be good nostalgia for those who can remember the 70's.
"Wild Wild West" - Bad, bad, trailer. But the Will Smith song is slowly
selling this thing.
THE FILM:
It was funny. Very funny. The same kind of funny as "There's
Something About Mary": a few funny scenes sandwiched between hilarious
comedy bits, sprinkled with gobs of gross-out humor.
But not as good as the first one. The shine is off the premise. It played
like "Ace Ventura 2", as a series of "greatest hits" catch phrases
integrated in with new, very funny scenes.
Myers, in writing the new film, seems to have figured out what his
audience deduced from the original: that Dr. Evil, not Austin Powers, is
the interesting, breakout character. So he gives Evil all the good lines
and plays him with twice the veracity as he does Powers.
And that's part of the problem. Myers has boiled the hero down to his
barest parts: (and no, not his twig and berries - his essentials) a series
of catch phrases and mannerisms that seems to be there just to string
along the comedy bits. On the other hand, he's taken the best character of
the first film, Evil, and made him into an over the top parody of...well,
of himself.
Evil was a clever send-up of Donald Plesance's Blofeld from the Bond
pictures, and really every other diabolical enemy. It was a fresh
take on a subject ripe for parody, just as Ace Ventura was a send-up of
super detective/cops.
But just like in "Ace 2," the character is imploded. All of the hilarious
satire on the original subject matter is used for dumbed down laughs. Dr.
Evil is less a insightful parody than he is an over-the-top clown. It's
Wayne Campbell as Dr. Evil, and it's a bit of a let down. After such a
well-crafted character stole the first film, to see him jump out of
character just to ham it up leaves one wondering if Myers had simply
exhausted the subject.
Not to say this ham isn't tasty. Dr. Evil is still the funniest thing in
the film. His lines hold up over the duration of two films (not so Powers)
and he participates in the film's single funniest bit: The Evils
appearing on Jerry Springer.
As for the new additions to the cast, the most highly anticipated, and
rightfully so, is Mini-Me, Evil's tiny clone. He is worth the hype and
steals every scene he's in. The battle between him and Powers should
enrage little persons advocates, but it is priceless.
The introduction of Mini-Me opens the door for a rel comedic oppertunity
Myers fumbles in the film. Part of the great fun that the original
provided was supplied by the dysfunctional relationship between Dr. and
Scott Evil. Here, the subject of Scott's reaction to and the nature of the
relationship bewteen Dr. Evil and his pint-sized clone. But the family
rift is sqwandered with some "He tried to kill me" jokes and the film's
low-point: an awkward, completely out-of-character and momentum killing
parody of Will Smith's ode to his son, "Just the two of us." It's another
in a series of examples where Myers has come up with a humerous idea, but
the execution in the film, and the character that is burdened by the gag,
is a letdown.
One concept that seems to work is Myers as Fat Bastard, a really bizarre
creation. A grotesque Scotsman who eats babies. Weird, but funny. This
character lets Myers explore the darker, more obscure side of his humor
that was on display in "So I Married an Ax Murderer" and his less quoted
work on "SNL."
As for Heather Graham, well, she's shagolicious. She literally looks
sexier in each progressive scene, but there simply isn't any chemistry at
all between her and Powers. While Ms. Kennsington and Austin had a bit of
an emotional click, Felicity goes into the relationship worshiping Powers.
With such a lothario as Powers, a little courtship goes a long way towards
building an interesting relationship.
Maybe it's character underdevelopment or just the "american" nature of
Felicity, but something just doesn't click here. We know Austin will end
up with the girl (as Hurley's Ms. Kennsington is hilariously dispatched
early). We just don't know why he would.
Hurley's early withdraweral brings us to another subject I'm a bit unsure
of, and that's Myers' winking acknoledgement that the film's plot is
unnecessessary. Part of the charm of the Bond films is that no matter how
perposterious the scheme of the bad guy, Bond plays it straight, gets the
girl and saves the day. The first film spoofed that by asking why the
villain just doesn't kill the hero. Now, we are told the plot is stupid,
we are told the villain is stupid, and we are stupid to enjoy it all.
But that's where the film falters. It forgets what made the first film so
special: the relationship between Hurley and Myers, the fish-out-of-water
scenario and the sharp satire of spy films. The film hits all the right
marks, but as the lights cames up, I wiped the tears of laughter from my
eyes and felt the same way I felt after Ace 2, Naked Gun 2 and
Ghostbusters 2: I laughed, I cried, but I didn't see much I didn't catch
the first time.
THE AFTERMATH:
The crowd ate it up. The entire experience really did remind me of "Mary"
in the sense that the very funny parts had the audience laughing so loudly
that you miss the next piece of dialogue.
>From the grosses, the country ate it up, dethroning, as many of us thought
it might, "Star Wars" as the top movie in the country.
Next weekend will be interesting. I don't know how much repeat viewing
this one will have. The jokes are pretty obvious, and many are funnier
when you just repeat them in conversation rather than see them on the
screen.
Two more thoughts:
1. The reviews have ranged all over the place. One thing is certain -
this movie does make you laugh. How hard, or how satisfying the experience
will be, depends on the viewer.
2. Calls have come for this film to be an "R." Idiotic! Double talk
and gross-out humor are squarely a PG-13 characteristic. Let's try and
salvage whatever merit the current ratings system has and not overdue it.
Greg Wyshynski
The Clerk Jester
Nathaniel R. Atcheson
Director: Jay Roach
Cast: Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Seth
Green, Mindy Sterling, Verne Troyer, Kristen Johnston, Rob Lowe
Screenplay: Michael McCullers, Mike Myers
Producers: John S. Lyons, Demi Moore, Mike Myers, Jennifer Todd,
Suzanne Todd
Runtime: 95 min.
US Distribution: New Line Cinema
Rated PG-13: sexual innuendo, crude humor
Copyright 1999 Nathaniel R. Atcheson
I am a fan of the original Austin Powers, and I'm also a fan of Mike
Myers. I don't know much about him, but he seems like a really
down-to-earth guy, one of those comedians who doesn't find it necessary
to make a fool of himself every time he appears before a live studio
audience. I'm glad to see that he's finally found his crowd-pleasing
niche; though most of his films have found their audiences on video,
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is likely to be the first massive
box office success of Myers' career (with the exception of Wayne's
World, which doesn't count for various reasons).
I liked AP2, but not as much as I liked the original. My reasons for
this should not come as a surprise: too many elements are rehashed or
expanded from the first film, there are sizeable gaps in the laugh-flow,
and there is way too much toilet humor. The story is goofy and dopey
enough to carry itself through the slow sections, and so I never found
myself completely bored. There are also some brilliant casting choices,
a few truly hilarious subplots, and the gleeful use of sexual vulgarity
and phallic symbols. I recommend the film, but I miss the
excrement-free environment and hokey originality of the first movie.
However, I think I like the story behind this one better. It has a
kind of insane genius about it that makes it entertaining even when
there aren't many laughs. Myers also does the right thing by giving Dr.
Evil what seems like more screen time than Austin himself. (That also
makes me wonder if the series shouldn't be named after the villain.)
The basic structure revolves around Dr. Evil -- he goes back in time to
steal Austin's mojo. After drinking the mojo, Dr. Evil becomes much
more hip, and even has a one night stand with Frau Farbissina (Mindy
Sterling). Austin, meanwhile, works to recover his mojo with the help
of Felicity Shagwell (the luminous Heather Graham, looking happy to be
in an Austin Powers movie). Little does he know that Dr. Evil has new
evil cohorts: Fat Bastard (an unrecognizable Myers in an enormous
prosthetic suit), and Mini-Me (Verne Troyer), a robot version of Dr.
Evil, one-eighth his size.
AP2 is a rare example of a comedy that uses subplots in the right way.
Just before things get dull, the scene switches to any one of the three
or four subplots, and audience interest in the film is held through the
end. The best subplot is certainly the relationship between Dr. Evil
and Mini-Me; Troyer is absolutely wonderful as the mute little monster,
and Dr. Evil's love for his diminutive pet is actually kind of touching
in a sarcastic sort of way. This also adds a new dimension to Dr.
Evil's biological son, Scott Evil (Seth Green). Green is a very funny
young actor, and the rivalry between him and Mini-Me is quite
effective. Mindy Sterling, reprising her role from the first film as
the crazy German lady, thankfully is given more screen time here. And
Rob Lowe does a perfect imitation of Robert Wager, playing the young
version of Number Two.
There's no doubt that AP2 shines in several scenes with inspired
brilliance. The two best sequences really can't be described in words,
but those who have seen the film will remember the way various people
all over the world describe Dr. Evil's phallic space ship as it blasts
off. And Myers' love for these characters and this series keeps the
film from ever feeling perfunctory or dull. But some scenes go way too
far: everything with Fat Bastard, for instance, is not funny, and
simply disgusting (laughing and cringing are two separate reactions
altogether).
I had the distinct sense of deja vu all through AP2, as if Myers had
been afraid to explore new territory. I can't say I blame him; it would
have been a mistake to seriously change the look and feel of this
sequel. But it lacks the discovery and newness of the first film, and
so it comes off almost as outtakes from the original, rather than a new
movie altogether. Don't get me wrong: Myers has made a funny picture.
And, seeing as how a third installment in this series is inevitable, I
have high hopes that Myers will find an all new angle on his series and
exploit it into oblivion.
Psychosis Rating: 6/10
**********/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\************
Visit FILM PSYCHOSIS at
http://www.pyramid.net/natesmovies
Nathaniel R. Atcheson
**********/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\************
Akiva Gottlieb
rated PG-13
New Line Cinema
starring Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Rob Lowe,
Seth Green, Mindy Sterling, Verne Troyer, Elizabeth Hurley, Kristen Johnson,
Gia Carides
written by Mike Myers and Michael McCullers
directed by Jay Roach
There's no denying that "Saturday Night Live" alum Mike Myers has
talent. He can write, act, produce and improvise. But most of all he's
just really damn funny. A few years ago, he was best known for
"Wayne's World", a lowbrow pre-Adam Sandler comedy about two slackers
who get their own TV show. The film spawned a sequel in 1993, and
after that Myers took a four-year hiatus. He made a grand return in
1997 with "Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery", a 60's spy
spoof featuring himself as the shagadelic, unhygienic title character
(and as his nemesis, Dr. Evil). The film grossed 50 million in
theatres but became a huge hit on video. Like I said before, Myers is
really damn funny, but you wouldnt know it from his latest, "Austin
Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me"; the lackluster sequel to the other
"Powers" film.
Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) is back and this time he has brought an even
more eclectic band of characters to help him take over the world. To
act as his evil sidekick, replacing his quasi-evil son (Seth Green),
he has made a clone of himself; a person 1/8 his size whom he
affectionately calls Mini-Me (Verne Troyer). He also has invented a
"time machine" which will enable him to return to 60's Britain.
Meanwhile, Austin Powers has just found out that the woman whom he
believed to be his wife (Elizabeth Hurley) was actually a robot
working for Dr. Evil. In order to stop Austin from plotting his
revenge, Dr. Evil sends out Fat Bastard (Mike Myers, once again) to
steal Austin's "mojo" (basically his libido, but for Austin, it's the
reason why women fall for him despite his many flaws, which explains a
lot). Austin then teams up with Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham) to
retrieve the mojo from the hands of Dr. Evil. But Dr. Evil has also
created a "laser" which he will use to destroy every city in the
world.
While the first "Austin Powers" was occasionally very witty, the
sequel is only funny about once every 15 minutes, and all of its humor
is quite dumb. In many ways, "Austin Powers" is a very conventional
movie franchise. The first film was a hit because of its originality
and style, and it did well because of word-of-mouth. The sequel is a
typical Hollywood creation, as the humor is dumbed-down for the kids
and the wit and sharpness of the former is gone.
Much of "Austin Powers" humor comes from the audacious sexual
references that are somehow harnessed to just avoid an "R"
rating. There are dick jokes aplenty in the sequel, and many bodily
fluids are passed around ("South Park", anyone?). A little-known fact
about "Austin Powers" is that half of the film is improvised. Director
Jay Roach keeps the camera rolling and it is usually then that he
catches Mike Myers' comedic skill.
"The Spy Who Shagged Me" will undoubtedbly rake in millions at the box
office, and many sequels will follow. Maybe, just maybe, one of those
sequels will provide something as fresh and new as the original film.
Note: The entire opening weekend was sold out, and many of my friends
told me just about every joke in the film before I got to see
it. Maybe that is a factor; maybe not. Also, what's up with the "Star
Wars" references? It is a sad comment on society when "The Spy Who
Shagged Me" outdoes "Star Wars" at the box office and then laughs in
its face.
a review by Akiva Gottlieb, The Teenage Movie Critic
ak...@excite.com
http://teenagemoviecritic.8m.com (!!!!!!new site address!!!!!!)
_______________________________________________________
Get your free, private email at http://mail.excite.com/
Steve Kong
A film review by Steve Kong
Edited by Steve Kong
Copyright 1999 Steve Kong
After 95 minutes of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, I was sure that
there was only 30 minutes of real comedy in this film. The other 65
minutes is awfully unfunny filler material. I admit I’m have a soft spot
for dumb-comedies, much like There’s Something About Mary, but when the
makers of a dumb-comedy run out of comedy it’s just dumb.
he Spy Who Shagged Me starts off where Austin Powers: International Man of
Mystery finishes. Austin (Mike Myers) Powers is faced with a surprise
attack by a familiar carry over character from the original film. After
the attack he discovers that he’s lost his “mojo”. As it turns out, Dr.
Evil (Mike Myers) has created a time machine and has traveled back in time.
And it is in the past that Dr. Evil has stolen Austin Power’s mojo. Dr.
Evil has a small sidekick this time around too, Mini-Me (Verne Troyer) who
is an exact duplicate of Dr. Evil only smaller. A subplot involves Dr.
Evil’s son who feels neglected by his father because his father is giving
more attention to Mini-Me. Austin must recover his mojo, so he travels
back in time too. When he arrives in the past, CIA agent Felicity (Heather
Graham) Shagwell joins him. Together they set out to spoil Dr. Evil’s
plans of world domination and to recover Austin’s mojo.
My major complaint with this Austin Powers film is that it is purely
unfunny material punctuated by some intensely funny moments. The film also
tries to get some laughs with crude jokes like the ones found in There’s
Something About Mary, but for the most part these jokes fail in Austin
Powers. The script by Mike Myers and Michael McCullers is bland, unfunny,
and way too long. The direction by Jay Roach doesn’t help either, his
pacing of the film is horrible, leaving me to look at my watch many times
during the showing wondering when the next laugh is or when the end is.
Myers plays a few of the characters in the film and does fine with most of
them. He’s nothing special on screen. Heather Graham does what she can
with the Barbie Doll-like character she’s given. Her part requires nothing
but for her to prance around with a gun and costumes designed to show as
much cleavage as possible -- telling you just who the target audience of
this film is. I enjoyed Graham’s performances in other films, such as
Boogie Nights and even Lost in Space, but this film is just a terrible
waste of her talents. The best thing about this film, and this is a hard
find in such an intolerable film, is Mini-Me. This character is one the
funniest parts of the film and I enjoyed it.
One issue that bothered me with this film is the MPAA rating of the film as
a PG-13 film. With the heavy sexual innuendo, some of it quite blatant
(like the rocket ship that Dr. Evil travels in), this film should have been
rated R. But, I’m guessing that the producers of the film pulled some
strings to get a PG-13 rating so that the film could open to the target age
group: young impressionable boys who would understand some of the moronic
comedy in this film. Still, this film shows just how MPAA ratings don’t
fit some films. If you’re a parent and you have younger children wanting
to see this film, don’t let them, this film is not appropriate for them.
No matter, this film invokes either a love or hate relationship with the
audience, I’m in the latter group. A moronic film that is 30 minutes of
comedy and 65 minutes of filler material, this film is an abysmal entry
into the summer movie lineup. Even if you’re old enough to see this film,
Skip, Skip, Skip it. Skip it in the theatres at full price, Skip it in the
theatres at matinee, and Skip it on video. Austin Powers is shagless.
---
Steve Kong rev...@boiledmovies.sbay.com
not all film critics are the same.
i'm your hard boiled movie guide.
http://boiledmovies.sbay.com/
Jonathan Richards
OH, BEHAVE!
AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME
Directed by Jay Roach
Written by Mike Myers and Michael McCullers
With Mike Myers, Heather Graham
UA South, De Vargas PG-13 95 min.
Mike Myers's follow-up to his enormously successful 60s superspy
hit is relentlessly and cheerfully tasteless. To call it sophomoric
would be an insult to sophomores everywhere. And to call it funny
would be an understatement.
It's not all funny, not by any means. A lot of toilet humor is
just plain excrescence, and there's a lot of toilet humor here, as well
as jokes covering the entire lower end of the comedy spectrum. But
Mike Myers is a funny guy, and his inspired creations Austin Powers and
Dr. Evil still have some good miles left in their tread. He tries a
third persona here, a fat slob of a Scotsman, who has none of the wit
of the other two and should have been drowned at birth.
If you think you might be offended by the movie's crudeness, it's a
good bet you will. But if you're up to it, there's a lot to laugh at
here. At the close of Powers I, Austin had foiled archenemy Dr. Evil
and married the beautiful Elizabeth Hurley. But marriage isn't the
swinging superspy's bag, baby, and it's a relief when circumstances
leave him single and available to the shaggadelic Felicity Shagwell
(Heather Graham). The bad doctor reappears to surprise his son (Seth
Green) on a Jerry Springer show on the theme "My Father Is Evil and
Wants to Take Over the World". He then constructs a time-travel
machine, and, accompanied by his compact clone Mini-me (Verne J. Troyer)
, heads back to the 60s and steal Powers's mojo, a marrow-like
substance extracted from the agent's cryogenically preserved body which
provides his irresistible sex appeal and shaggability.
The plot is all in the service of the gags. Product placement
figures shamelessly, as with Dr. Evil locating his headquarters in a
Starbucks atop Seattle's Space Needle. There are good gags, bad gags,
scatological humor, sexually incorrect humor, fat jokes, short jokes,
penis jokes, breast jokes, lesbian jokes. Sometimes a joke works once,
and falls flat when it returns for an encore. Sometimes once is too
much. If you're still in your seat after half an hour, you're probably
in for the long haul.