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
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