Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
Directed by Jay Roach

Film Review

After Mike Myers' personal triumph as Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) it was inevitable that the grooviest and most implausibly promiscuous of secret agents would return to do battle with his unspeakably evil adversary, Dr Evil, sending up the spy thriller genre for all it is worth whilst exhausting just about every sex joke known to man.  As its provocative title implies Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is an irreverent spoof of the popular James Bond movies, its main appeal being the almost nerdish accuracy with which it parodies Sean Connery's era as Agent 007.  Despite mixed reviews, the film was a phenomenal success.  It took over 300 million dollars at the box office worldwide, almost six times the amount earned by the first Austin Powers film.  Just as Pierce Brosnan's Bond was about to be pensioned off, Mike Myers once again proves that, in mainstream cinema, there is nothing more bankable than a chauvinistic British secret agent.

The second time round, the novelty value of the Austin Powers concept has all but worn off and the formula is already beginning to feel a little stale and tacky.  Most of the gags seem to revolve around male genitalia and bodily excretions, so it's clear that Myers' imagination is beginning to fail him as he drags the humour ever downwards to the basement lavatory.  The film just about gets away with its tasteless vulgarity by virtue of its unflagging sense of fun and some sublime trips into total lunacy.  As in the first film, it is the main villain (Dr Evil) who provides the most entertainment value, whilst the good guy (Powers) looks increasingly sad and pathetic.  On taking on three roles (Dr Evil, Powers and Fat Bastard) Myers perhaps spreads himself too thinly, and all characters suffer as a result.  Fortunately, Myers has plenty of high-grade comedy support, from the likes of Michael York, Seth Green and Mindy Sterling, who are all every bit as funny as the film's omnipresent star.  Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello put in a cameo appearance (forming an unlikely musical double act) and Robert Wagner makes an unexpected return, having apparently been burned to a frazzle at the end of the last Austin Powers film.

This time we get two Dr Evils for the price of one.  Actually, owing to the limits of cloning technology, we only get one and one-eighth, Dr Evil and his Mini-Me offshoot.  This naturally leads to some enjoyably daft friction between Dr Evil and his disenfranchised stroppy son, Scott, culminating in a memorable father-son showdown on the set of the Jerry Springer Show.  Dr Evil, Mini-Me and Scott Evil form the ultimate dysfunctional family, such a rich minefield of gags that you wonder why Myers bothered adding Powers and Fat Bastard into the mix.  Who cares whether Powers gets his mojo back and is able to resume his shagadelic career?  His problems are as naught compared with the domestic crises that beset Dr Evil as he goes about his daily task of blackmailing the world and erasing major cities with his lethal lunar ray gun.  It is true: the Devil gets all the best tunes.  Unfortunately, Myers favoured his yellow-toothed, bespectacled hipster as much as his Nehru-suited villain, and so a third confrontation was inevitable.  Cue Goldmember.  Oh, be-have!

Film Synopsis

On his return to Earth in 1999, Dr Evil wastes no time putting his next dastardly scheme into operation.  Whilst his Number Two has been frittering away his time building up a huge corporate empire by legitimate means, Dr Evil has devoted his efforts to building a time machine.   With the help of his dwarf clone, Mini-Me, he plans to travel back to 1969 and steal the mojo of his nemesis, Austin Powers, whilst the latter is helplessly frozen in a state of cryogenic suspension.  Robbed of his mojo, Britain's Number One agent will be powerless to prevent his arch-enemy from taking over the world.  British Intelligence soon gets wind of Dr Evil's diabolical scheme and sends Austin Powers back to 1969 in a souped-up car.  Linking up with CIA agent Felicity Shagwell, Powers cannot prevent his mojo being stolen by Dr Evil's Scottish henchman, Fat Bastard, but he manages to track the villain to his secret lair, in a hollowed out volcano.  Powers arrives just as Dr Evil is about to launch his rocket to the moon, from where he intends to operate a laser weapon that will give him mastery of the world...