For all the tangible upgrades in the second Austin Powers outing (the inspired and indelible Mini-Me; Elvis Costello instead of Burt Bacharach; Rob Lowe as Robert Wagner instead of Robert Wagner as Robert Wagner) there is one serious, significant downgrade.
In the very first scene, we lose Elizabeth Hurley as the newly minted Vanessa Powers, in a totally and knowingly nonsensical plot twist, in which we discover she was a femme-bot (sadly, Basil Exposition, reports, they knew all along). The replacement Powers Girl?
While Heather Graham's Felicity Shagwell fits neatly in the dubious tradition of the utterly forgettable, less personality than a bucket of dirt, easy-on-the-eyes Bond girl, she is a poor replacement for the former Mrs. Hugh Grant, who was a capable and grounded foil for Mike Myers' loony bin performance(s). Alas, in the rush to make the second Austin Powers bigger and better and groovier than original, one of the first film's best features was unceremoniously blowed up in the first scene. Also, maybe I have a little thing for Elizabeth Hurley.
So what?
Anyway, The Spy Who Shagged Me finds Austin traveling back in time to 1969 to reclaim his mojo from Dr. Evil, whose henchman, Fat Bastard, stole it from the then-chryogenically frozen Powers. Time travel allows us to see Austin in his element, swinging '60s London, and also gives us one of the best scenes where a character acknowledges the ludicrous complications inherent in a plot involving time travel this side of Looper.
Like most comedy sequels, The Spy Who Shagged Me manages to recycle most of the best jokes from the original, including a return cameo by Will Ferrell as Mustafa, the henchman who just won't die and who can't stand being asked the same question thrice. However, unlike most comedy sequels, it also adds some instant classics.
Its sort of hard to believe that Mini-Me didn't come in until the second film, the character being such an integral part of the franchise in our collective cultural consciousness (alliteration!). That little bastard is hilarious. Unlike Fat Bastard, who grossed me out then and still does now. Now, Goldmember, that cat's a different story...
Heather Graham was so forgettable in The Spy Who Shagged Me that Meyers doesn't even bother explaining what happened to her in the third (and at this point, final) Austin Powers film, Goldmember. Instead, we get an indisputable upgrade in the form of Beyonce Knowles in her film debut as the blaxploitation-esque Foxy Cleopatra. This time, Austin travels to the '70s where he teams up with Foxy to battle Dr. Evil's plot to ransom the world at the threat of evisceration with a giant freakin' "laser" and, yes, save his father, Nigel Powers, played with aplomb by a very game, Michael Caine. Assisting in Dr. Evil's plot(s) is the usual roster of baddies, but with the terrific and aggressively weird addition of Goldmember.
Let us review. Goldmember is: (1) Dutch; (2) loves gooooooold; (3) has incredibly flexible legs; (4) enjoys
"toight" bodies; (5) likes a smoke and a pancake; and (6) saves his dead skin in a case to eat later. I think a solid case can be made that Goldmember is the best of any of the characters Meyers created for the Powers franchise, if only because he is so damn bizarre and unlike anything else.
"toight" bodies; (5) likes a smoke and a pancake; and (6) saves his dead skin in a case to eat later. I think a solid case can be made that Goldmember is the best of any of the characters Meyers created for the Powers franchise, if only because he is so damn bizarre and unlike anything else.
Otherwise, we get a recycling of the greatest hits of the first two films but with some new classics as well. Fred Savage as No. 3, particularily, gets a few great moments.
At the end of the day, Goldmember is a fitting final installment of the franchise, with the daddy-wasn't-there subplot turning in to the big reveal that Austin and Dr. Evil are (gasp! shock! horror!) brothers. However, we do get Scotty Evil in his daddy-wasn't-there's chair at the end, howling with laughter at the thought of revenge on the Powers' clan, and there's supposedly a deal for a fourth Powers film...so we might be seeing the whole gang again soon. Yay?
Final verdict: This sort of pains me, because I do think these movies are funny. Or were funny. At some point, the memory of them became funnier than the movies themselves and we just don't think we need them anymore. Someday, I'm sure we'll get a hankerin' for an Austin Powers fix. But, for now, we're PITCHING them all.
Next up: THE AVENGERS.
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