AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY
A film review by Cameron Shelley
Copyright 1997 Cameron Shelley
Review by:
Cameron Shelley -- May 28, 1997.
Review URL:
http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~cpshelle/Reviews/apimm.html
Cast:
Mike Myers (Austin Powers, Dr. Evil), Elizabeth
Hurley (Vanessa Kensington), Michael York
(Basil Exposition), Robert Wagner (Number
Two).
Screenplay:
Mike Myers
Director:
Jay Roach
Producer:
Eric McLeod, Demi Moore, Mike Myers, Claire
Polstein, Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd
By rights, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery shouldn't work nearly as well as it does. The very idea of a James Bond spoof written and acted by Mike Myers forbodes an old, one-note idea stretched further than it will really go to fill out a long 90 minutes. The selection of a '60s theme could have brought on a saccharine appeal to baby-boomer nostalgia. The obvious comparison is with a turn-of-the-decade Saturday Night Live sketch, with a two-minute premise turned into a ten-minute yawner. Say, wasn't there a SNL sketch (10 years ago or so) that featured a TV panel discussion show of James Bond's arch nemeses on "How to kill Bond"? ("When you have Bond, just shoot him!")
But Myers has fashioned himself a winner with this one. The plot, of course, is ludicrous. It begins in 1967, when Austin Powers is a fashion photographer/secret agent who's smashingly popular with the screaming girlie set - despite his bad teeth. Austin's arch-nemesis, the aptly-named Dr. Evil (that's Dr. Evil - he didn't spend six years in evil medical school to be called Mr. Evil!) gets sick of having his schemes foiled and places himself in cryogenic suspension for thirty years, when he figures he can make his dreams of world domination come true without Austin's infernal interference. But British Intelligence places Austin in suspension too, pending Evil's return. In 1997 both are defrosted to meet again on the field of international intrigue. But, naturally, the world has changed a great deal in their absence.
Of course, all this has basically been done before, most notably by Woody Allen in Sleeper, and Casino Royale, as well as various Star Trek episodes. For that matter, humor at the expense of outdated underground figures goes back to the various take-offs of Key Largo done on such sketch comedy shows as Wayne and Shuster before Myers was born. Much of the comedy has obvious antecedents as well. Joke names such as Basil Exposition (who fills Powers in after his unfreezing) and Alotta Fagina (who, uh, is also involved in warming Powers up) are reminiscent of Hot Shots, while numerous winking spoofs of Bond movie cliches (Evil tries to kill Powers by lowering him into a pool of bad-tempered, mutant sea bass - the proper sharks being too scarce in the '90s - with an "unnecessarily slow dipping mechanism") might have come out of Police Squad or Get Smart.
Fortunately, though, Myers gives APIMM a life of its own. Despite being caricatures come to life, both Powers and Evil are brought to the screen with a lively but light touch. Despite being seriously warped, both characters muddle through the same silly problems as the rest of us - albeit writ large sometimes. (This is where they clearly differ from characters like Tom Baxter from Purple Rose of Cairo.) When either character is displaying his absurd side, we have more normal characters on screen to observe reacting appropriately, e.g., Vanessa Kensington and Scott Evil. Jokes are seldom pushed beyond their limits, so the laughs are natural and not often forced. And the jokes come from many sources: anachronisms, movie and TV spoofs, in-jokes, sight-gags, as well as broad physical comedy. Since they are not solely empty slots in a Bond film parody, Powers and Evil take on all these roles without difficulty. But even as Powers and Evil become more human, Vanessa, as played gamely by Elizabeth Hurley, becomes more like her Moneypenny-ish mother as she inevitably falls for Powers. The result is a pretty good balance of opportunities for humor throughout the film.
APIMM is also a decent piece of film-making. In particular, the music and costumes add a great deal to the impact of the movie. Myers, as usual, does play to the camera, but always to punctuate a scene and not simply to beg for laughs. (Well, one or two of Power's "Yeah baby!"s come over a bit forced.) Here, his tendency to mugging for the audience stands him in good stead. There are a handful of awkward moments when the pacing lets down, but not enough to complain seriously about. For the most part, APIMM delivers.
It is encouraging to see Mike Myers developing his strengths as a comedian beyond the narrowly parodic Wayne's World movies. In an era that has seen several poor outings by SNL alumni, we can hope that another Steve Martin is beginning to emerge.
cpshelle@watarts.uwaterloo.ca - Phone: (519) 888-4567 x2555
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