FILM REVIEW: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
Austin Powers has gone mainstream. The original Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery came from nowhere. Saturday Night Live alum Mike Myers gambled with a quirky concept and a ridiculous character and won. It is one of the funniest movies of the decade and has become an instant classic. In contrast, a monstrous marketing campaign and unavoidable hype preceded Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Suddenly, white bread top-40 radio announcers and cheesy TV morning show hosts are making reference to Powerisms such as "groovy, baby" and "shagadelic." Myers' unlikely cult hero is pasted on billboards, bus stop signs, and on magazine ads everywhere. Unfortunately, while The Spy Who Shagged Me is packed with laughs, it is a far less clever and satisfying than the original.
The Spy Who Shagged Me starts where the first film left off, with Powers and his new bride, Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley), on their honeymoon. Without spoiling the start of the film, I'll only say that things don't work out well for the newlyweds, and very quickly, Powers is back in action and single again. And it's not a minute too soon, because Dr. Evil is also back, scheming once again to dominate the globe. He is joined this time by a temperamental miniature clone of himself, "Mini-Me." Dr. Evil hatches a new world-domination plot centered around eliminating Powers' interference by going back in time and "stealing his Mojo" while also setting up a powerful laser on the moon. Powers follows Dr. Evil back to the sixties, and, with the help of a gorgeous CIA agent, Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham), tries to once more thwart Dr. Evil's diabolical schemes.
Mike Myers' performance is once again brilliant as both lead roles. His comic timing, facial expressions, and willingness to do anything for a laugh set him alongside Jim Carrey one of the funniest entertainers today. Graham, sadly, is a disappointment. Unlike Hurley, Graham doesn't complement Myers very well. As Vanessa Kensington, Hurley provided a contrast and a challenge to Powers, while Shagwell is just a good-looking bimbo who wants to sleep with Powers. She has some good lines, but they are all just snappy come-ons instead of clever exchanges. Graham looks great in Bond-girl outfits, but they gave her Bond-girl airiness as well.
And yet, unlike the original Austin Powers, Myers' physical comedy and wacky characters drive The Spy Who Shagged Me, without the support of a decent story. The Spy Who Shagged Me abandons the fundamental premise of the original – that Austin Powers, and his arch-nemesis, Dr. Evil, were fish out of water, 1960s characters thrust into the vastly different world of the late 1990s. Much of the humor in the original Austin Powers film came from Dr. Evil and Austin Powers' struggles to adjust to today's attitudes and realities. In place of a decent story, The Spy Who Shagged Me substitutes juvenile bathroom humor. As if to try and out-do There's Something About Mary, this film has more than its share of bathroom humor – a shame, since the original was funnier without anywhere near as many junior-high gags.
Without the conflict of Powers not fitting in, the feel of the film shifts. Whereas the recurring joke in the first film was that Powers was an unattractive, ridiculously dressed, hairy pervert who was hopelessly out-of-date, in The Spy Who Shagged Me, he has become fashionable, irresistible to women, and in-tune with the times. Taking Powers and Evil back to the 1960s doesn't add much to the story. Except for the outfits and cars, most of the plot and story would have worked fine in the present day.
Still, while imperfect, The Spy Who Shagged Me is a lot of fun. It's worth the ticket price just to see the opening credit sequence (words can't do it justice), Dr. Evil's appearance on the Jerry Springer show, and any of Dr. Evil's tirades against his "not-evil-enough" son, Scott Evil (Seth Green). Also, the film does well by not taking itself too seriously. In one scene, as Powers prepares to go back in time to stop Dr. Evil, he begins asking the Chief of British Intelligence, Basil Exposition (Michael York), about the paradoxes and implications of his impact on the flow of time if he goes back to the sixties. York tells Powers not to worry about it and just "do what you always do: have a good time," then turns to the camera and says to the audience, "and that goes for you too!" Myers looks at the camera as well and nods in agreement.
The Spy Who Shagged Me offers a lot of laughs, but the film feels more like a long string of skits and memorable lines rather than a complete movie. It' s an enjoyable romp, but a far cry from its classic predecessor.
GRADE: B
Copyright 1999 Matt Pusateri Check out other film reviews, game reviews, features, and columns at The Separate Radio Volume Knob (http://www.pusateri.org/knob.htm)
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