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AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER Send This Review to a Friend
How much labored comedy can you stand in order to get to the really funny parts? Basically, that's the question to be weighed in dealing with Mike Myers's latest dose of outrageous, slapstick, sight-gag humor as the intrepid master-spy Austin Powers, a mock James Bond whose mentor Myers seems to have never met a joke idea he didn't like.
The problem is mining new ways to elicit laughs, a task that Myers and Michael McCullers set about solving with their free-wheeling screenplay. The beginning gets off to promising and surprising start with non-credited stars and a famous director pitching in with comedy cameos. Then comes the busy plot, involving Powers once again confronting Dr. Evil and his Mini Me, who are allied with another villain, Goldmember. Their aim is to take over the world with threats of a super-weapon in a plan called "Preparation H." Forget the story details, although one should add that Michael Caine plays Austin's dad, and as we know about Caine, no matter what he's in, he always gives a good performance.
The film has some very funny sequences, but responses to them depend on what sort of sense of humor you have. One of the characters Myers plays is the Scottish Fat Bastard, who seems even more hilariously gross in this sequel, this time getting involved in sumo wrestling. Another funny twist is when Mini Me (Verne Troyer), feeling rejected, betrays Dr. Evil and switches sides, thereby becoming a look-alike clone of Powers instead of Dr. Evil. There's more hilarity with an inventive shadow sequence when what's really happening is not as raunchy as it looks. And if you don't enjoy toilet humor you are in trouble.
Myers is generally very funny himself, playing his assortment of characters--Powers, Dr. Evil, Goldmember and Fat Bastard. The free form film is awash in special effects, musical numbers, high tech stuff, travel back and forth in time and plenty of slapstick, such as the tossing around and bashing of Mini Me. Sex jokes and innuendo also abound, like pretty Japanese twins named Fook Mi and Fook Yu, to say nothing of celebrating the size of Mini Me's "kickstand."
One plus is Beyoncé Knowles as the sexy and spunky as Cleopatra, Powers's girlfriend and mission ally. Director Jay Roach, although letting the film sag a bit early on, builds to almost non-stop comic action. This is the sort of entertainment that younger audiences are especially likely to enjoy, although as noted, it's always a matter of being on the Powers wavelength. A New Line Cinema release.
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