Sep 11, 2001 03:04 AM
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And so Mike Myers returns as his super groovy alter ego, Austin Powers, the sexiest swinger from the 1960's - ''Do you swing, Austin?'' ''Are you kidding, baby? I put the Grrrr in Swinger.''
This time he's hipper than ever and taking the rise out of more films than ever before.
The first Austin Powers film (‘Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery’ 1997) was wild enough, but in this one there's no holds barred as he unabashedly goes for the jugular, cracking all the one liners in the book and some he's just added. If you're after subtle humour or dry wit then this just isn't for you, go elsewhere. But if you're after the biggest load of belly laughs and the loudest comedy around then stick in there because Myers has simply outdone himself here.
He’s aided and abetted in his mayhem by Robert Wagner, Rob Lowe, Heather Graham and Michael York, all intent on camping things up to the fullest extent. There is even a cameo role from Liz Hurley as Powers’ famous, exploding shagpiece.
The plot (if there is one) floats around the ongoing battle between Dr Evil and special agent Austin Powers, both played with verve and larger than life in yer face intensity by Myers. Dr Evil goes back in time via his (crooked fingers emphasising the “so called” nature of the beast) time machine and despatching his special envoy, Fat Bard (also played disgustingly by Myers) to steal the mojo (now is that libido or life force?) out of the cryogenically frozen Powers. Powers follows him back and comes across (base pun no. 1) special agent Felicity Shagwell (played by Graham) as they seek to save the planet from the fiendish schemes of Dr Evil and his diminutive replica, Mini Me.
But in reality, the plot is just a loose framework within which Myers can unleash his battery of puns, one liners, toilet jokes, glamorous visualisation of Sixties party life – you even get Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello performing the old standard “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”. It’s glorious, evocative stuff, firmly rooted in Myers-speak and jokey references and as usual if you like Myers, you’ll love this, but it’s unlikely to conver many non believers. For those who are looking for a narrative story there’s just nothing there, just a collection of over the top sketches and clowning around, but for those who enjoy Myers’ very blatant parodies and jokes, this is as good as it gets.
The opening sequence, featuring Dr Evil as one of the guests in a Jerry Springer televised audience debate (‘My dad wants to take over the world’), is probably the best bit of the whole film with Myers and Springer shamelessly slugging it out and “bleepy bleepy bleeping” as if their lives depended upon it. It’s wonderful stuff and no modern day or Sixties icon goes unbashed, although the key barbs are reserved for the Sixties spy film genre as epitomised by Sean Connery and the James Bond series. Indeed, Dr Evil himself is just a souped up version of Ernst Stavro Blofeld from the Bond movies, complete with bald head, disfiguring scar and pet pussy (base pun no. 2) and this movie belongs almost exclusively to the said Doctor, who gets all the best lines and all the best scenes with parodies of rap music amongst other things. Now, Donald Pleasance as the said Blofeld takes an awful lot to wipe from our memories but Myers manages to pull off the trick, although the crooked little finger in the side of the mouth image soon gets quite irritating.
Myers was probably at his greatest early on with the ‘Wayne’s World’ movies, but he has certainly mined a rich vein with his couple of films about the hideously ugly, yet devilishly attractive secret agent and there is a huge audience which hangs on his every word. There’s a smashing soundtrack which features some incredible stuff, including Madonna’s ‘Beautiful Stranger’ hit single.
For my tastes, Austin Powers is definitely a bit too unsubtle and blatant. After you’ve revelled in the psychedelic multi coloured Sixties world for a few minutes and heard the jokes a few times you’re left wanting a lot more and Myers never manages to deliver it. Some very slight and only tenuously funny moments are stretched out into being the running jokes on which this movie depends. Mini Me might have been funny the first couple of times you see him and Myers does use the joke quite well, but it certainly pales into being quite embarrassing on the twentieth or thirtieth occasion that we hear the same pun. Myers focuses his attention almost solely on satisfying the lust of the adolescent for toilet jokes and references to sex and is perfectly equipped to give them the sort of loose stapling together of quickfire sketches they crave, but struggles to hold it together for a single coherent whole film. Sorry if that’s being a bit po faced but Myers invites the criticism by wanting to play with the big boys. He’s quite gifted and funny, but sometimes believes his own hype too much and goes that little bit too far.
Lewis dave27 adores Myers and all his works and finds Powers genuinely funny, but he’s at the stage when saying ‘Mojo’ for the tenth time or furtively whispering ‘shag’ is guaranteed to make him sound OUTRAGEOUS. I’m not deriding this film, just noting that you could achieve all that Myers manages and put something out that also functions on another level, but he seems to be satisfied with this gross collection of adolescent fart jokes. Good luck to him, I say, but I like my humour that touch drier than you get it here…
