Review: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
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Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

4 Stars (Out of 4)

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equivalent of the "the force" and can be easily withdrawn from a frozen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.

Smashing, Baby!

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.

AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME

A film review by 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

by Curtis Edmonds -- blue...@hsbr.org

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

AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME

RATING: 7 / 10 --> Good movie

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

AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME

Reviewed by Jamie Peck

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

***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

..........................

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

A film review by 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

_Austin_Powers:_The_Spy_Who_Shagged_Me_ (PG-13) ** 1/2 (out of ****)

_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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AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME

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

AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME by DeWyNGaLe (John Sylva) Rating: B+

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.

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

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

&#137;

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Share what you know. Learn what you don't.

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

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me * * (out of * * * * )

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

AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME **1/2 (out of four)

-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

“Austin Powers -– Still Putting the GRRR in Swingrrr, Baby

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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AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME

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

So, in the wee early morning hours of Monday (well, not that early),

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.

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

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

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

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Visit FILM PSYCHOSIS at

http://www.pyramid.net/natesmovies

Nathaniel R. Atcheson

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Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

**

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

writt