Austin Powers in Goldmember

Year: 2002
Directed By: Jay Roach
Written By: Mike Myers

RYAN’S REVIEW

Anybody who forgets how big of a hit The Spy That Shagged Me was they need only to see the opening of this movie to remember.  You don’t get this many fantastic cameos in a second sequel unless you had a lot of success the last time around.  Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Britney Spears (before she went crazy), Danny Devito, and Kevin Spacey (right after winning the academy award for American Beauty mind you) all making appearances in an excellent intro. However, despite the great opening I remember walking away from this movie very disappointed.  Looking back I don’t know if I had outgrown it, I was 18 when it came out, or if Austin Powers was a Twentieth century star that just couldn’t cut it in the Twenty First. I think there are certain parts of this film that work well, like the beginning, but overall I find it disappointing. The storyline where the main characters went to prep school as children is stupid, it’s kind of a funny scene because that kid playing Dr. Evil is great, but this is a stupid storyline nevertheless. Beyonce and Mike Myers don’t have great chemistry, not to mention Beyonce is awful, and her character went a little too heavy on the clichés.  She is a beautiful woman and I will not deny her talent as an entertainer, but she didn’t impress me with her first acting performance.  I also think making Austin Powers and Dr. Evil brothers was a horrible idea. In the last film Dr. Evil was claiming to be Austin’s father and Austin seemed to want to believe it, for them to be twins later is stupid.  Not even the great Michael Caine could save this film as the father of Austin and Dr. Evil.

We didn’t own this movie before starting this blog, I thought we should cover it though and I’m proud to admit buying a new copy for .79 cents on Amazon.com.  With shipping it ended up being 3 dollars and something but I still consider that a steal.  While I may not like this movie I can admit that it is funny. There are several things I like about it.  Dr. Evil is still an awesome character and for most of the movie he is very funny, Josh Zuckerman who plays the young Dr. Evil was great. While he couldn’t save the movie from disappointment Michael Caine was still very funny nonetheless. I liked that Fred Savage was in this movie but I don’t really get the mole thing.  Did Mike Myers just have a cache of mole jokes he needed a platform for? I wasn’t thrilled with Mini-Me switching sides and becoming a Mini-Austin but Verne Troyer is great in the role.  I’ve never been a big Seth Green fan but he does have his moment in this film.

This movie is worth your time for many reasons, but it is the weakest of the trilogy.  Despite that, at .79 cents a pop on Amazon I’d say it was worth your money as well but I’ll leave that up to you. It may have flaws but it’s still funny, and if you enjoyed the first two you should definitely see it.

AMBER’S REVIEW

“Moley, moley, moley, moley.”

NEXT MOVIE: Avatar (2009)

Austin Powers: The Spy That Shagged Me

Year: 1999
Directed By: Jay Roach
Written By: Mike Myers

RYAN’S REVIEW

I was 15 when this Austin Powers hit the theaters and to this day I don’t know if I have ever laughed so hard at the theater.  At the time this was the funniest movie I had ever seen and I still rank it fairly high on the list today.  From beginning to end the laughter is non-stop.  One of my favorite comedy scenes of all time is  Dr. Evil and Scott Evil on the Jerry Springer Show, one of the funniest things I have ever seen.  Mini-Me…need I say more?  Dr. Evil was already such a funny character to begin with, adding a tiny nearly identical version made him an icon. Mini-Me was one of the best ideas Mike Myers ever came up with and Verne Troyer really was a find. It’s unfortunate that he really wasn’t suited well for success.  He has shamed himself many times over the past several years, and when that guy dies they will write Mini-Me on his tombstone. It’s been a while since I have heard anything about him but the last thing I heard involved a sex video made public. Before that it was the footage of him completely wasted riding a little bike around the Playboy Mansion fully nude while people laughed at him.

I think this film far outshines its predecessor, much like Terminator 2 or The Dark Knight.  That’s not to say that those predecessors are bad movies, they are great movies, but their sequels were better.  This movie does follow several of the stereotypical comedy sequel aspects that I mentioned in my American Pie 2 post, but it brought enough fresh and new material to make it a funnier movie. I think Heather Graham is fantastic in this movie, she is super hot and not in enough movies really.  Rob Lowe was well cast as a young Number 2.  Verne Troyer was hilarious, and Seth Green was funny as Scott Evil.

This movie came out during the same summer as the much-anticipated and incredibly disappointing Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace.  Despite the amount of money it made, the general consensus was that Star Wars Episode I sucked, and it did.  In many ways I think Austin Powers saved us from the disappointment Star Wars left with us, it reminded us that great movies and great sequels were still being made. There is a point when you wonder if this movie can get any funnier and then Dr. Evil starts singing “Just the Two of Us.” This was one of the best movies at the end of a century, if you haven’t seen it you need to check it out.

AMBER’S REVIEW

This one is my favorite. I saw this in the theater when it came out and I thought it was one of the funniest movies that I had ever seen. I also continued to watch it for years. I am sure that you all know how great this movie is because you too have watched it a million times…right?

I am just going to go over a few of my favorite lines…what are yours?

“Get in my belly!”
“You’re semi-evil. You’re quasi-evil. You’re the margarine of evil. You’re the Diet Coke of evil. Just one calorie, not evil enough.”
“Riiiiiiiight.”
“I will never love another man.” “That’s true.”
“You know what’s remarkable? Is how much England looks in no way like Southern California.”
“Ow! You shot me, you A-Hole.”

NEXT MOVIE: Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)