Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Jay Roach

Writers (WGA):

Mike Myers (written by) &
Michael McCullers (written by) ...

Release Date:

11 June 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

First, he fought for the Crown. Now he's fighting for the Family Jewels.

Plot:

Dr. Evil is back...and has invented a new time machine that allows him to go back to the 60's and steal Austin Powers's mojo, inadvertently leaving him "shagless".

Plot Keywords:

Moon | Time Machine | Son | Clone | Laser

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 16 wins & 26 nominations

Cast

Mike Myers	...	Austin Powers / Dr. Evil / Fat Bastard
Heather Graham	...	Felicity Shagwell
Michael York	...	Basil Exposition
Robert Wagner	...	Number Two
Rob Lowe	...	Young Number Two
Seth Green	...	Scott Evil
Mindy Sterling	...	Frau Farbissina
Verne Troyer	...	Mini-Me (as Verne J. Troyer)
Elizabeth Hurley	...	Vanessa
Gia Carides	...	Robin Swallows
Oliver Muirhead	...	British Colonel
George Cheung	...	Chinese Teacher (as George Kee Cheung)
Jeffrey Meng	...	Chinese Student
Muse Watson	...	Klansman
Scott Cooper	...	Klansman's Son - Bobby

Also Known As:

Austin Powers 2 (USA) (working title)
Austin Powers 2: It's Shagging Time (USA) (working title)
Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me (USA) (video title)
It's Shagging Time (USA) (working title)
The Return of Dr. Evil (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual innuendo and crude humor.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX | SDDS | DTS-ES

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Iceland:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Netherlands:6 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Malaysia:(Banned) | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (NO. 36759) | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

In the Seattle headquarters, there is a picture of a shark with a frickin' laser beam on its head. Look for it at the shot of Number 2 by the condiments table with the Starbucks employee to the left side of the screen.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Austin was originally frozen in 1967, yet his private jet is a Boeing 747. This type of plane wasn't even deemed airworthy until 1969.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery, was frozen in 1967 and defrosted in the Nineties to battle his nemesis, Dr. Evil. After foiling his archenemy's plan to send a nuclear warhead to the center of the earth, Austin banished Dr. Evil to the cold recesses of space and settled down with his new wife, Vanessa, to live happily ever after. Or so he thought...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Gilmore Girls: But Not as Cute as Pushkin (#5.10)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

American Woman

Noticeably faulted, but still an enjoyable outing

It's rare to come across a decent spoof film nowadays. Unfortunately, somebody upstairs decided to punish us with the 'creative' minds of Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg, who are responsible for churning out some of the worst films the world has had to endure - most recently, Epic Movie, Meet the Spartans and Disaster Movie. Their so-called 'comedies', which fall under the sub-genre of spoofs, have ridiculed every single aspect of pop culture one could think of, and the potentially hilarious satires that could've been conceived unfortunately turned out to be universally-hated and absolutely horrendous creations. Seltzer, Friedberg and their monstrosities have tainted the modern comedy industry, and have created an in-built instinct in the brain of movie-goers to take heed when approaching said type of film.

But I digress – back to my original point. It's rare to come across a decent spoof film nowadays, and when one manages to discover one, it's indeed a real treat. Among the seemingly ubiquitous piles of garbage labelled as 'comedies', there are, thankfully, some decent, if not great comedy films being made nowadays. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is the second installment in the Austin Powers series, and after the greatness and hilarity conveyed by its predecessor, the winning streak continues with this sequel. Directed by Jay Roach, the man responsible for the previous Austin Powers film as well as the Meet the Parents series (two more great modern comedies), The Spy Who Shagged Me is indeed a hilarious movie, filled to the brim with original and riotous lines and an eclectic cast of characters – the key components necessary to make a comedy movie a success.

As many people would probably already know, the Austin Powers franchise are a cheeky, irreverent and totally politically incorrect take on the spy genre of films, in particular James Bond. The film's subtitle is a play on The Spy Who Loved Me, and on the contrary to what one may think The Spy Who Shagged Me is not a satire of that film. Instead, it parodies the entire franchise, as well as containing dozens of obscure and uproarious pop culture references. English comic Mike Myers reprises his role as the title character, which without doubt become his most recognisable role. Austin Powers is the suave, sexy but also rather ugly employee of the British Intelligence; despite his crooked teeth, horrible hairstyle, ridiculously hairy chest and nerdy glasses appearance, Austin's mojo enables him to lure and attract the most sought after of women, and one of the most popular men and Casanovas in London.

Austin's mojo is also his secret weapon, and is his secret weapon in his fight against his arch-nemesis, Dr. Evil (also played by Myers). Dr. Evil has returned once again with his ever-faithful and idiosyncratic cast of henchmen and advisers: the eye-patch wearing and real brains of the organisation, No.2; the German military commander from the militant wing of the Salvation Army, Frau Farbissina; Dr. Evil's estranged son and hip American teenager, Scott; and two new faces. The first of these is one of No.2's creations and a replacement for the ignorant and uncaring Scott, Mini-me – a miniaturised version of Dr. Evil (played by Verne Troyer in an also instantly recognisable role); the second newcomer is Dr. Evil's henchmen and faithful minion, the morbidly obese Scottish highlander Fat Bastard (once again played by Myers). In this second outing, Dr. Evil has built a time machine, and has travelled back in time to 1969 to steal Austin's mojo; at this time Austin has been cryogenically frozen, thus totally useless against his nemesis. Luckily, with the help of Intelligence chief Basil Exposition, Austin is tipped off, and goes back in time to save his frozen-preserved libido.

The film's screenplay, responsible for providing us with this eclectic and wonderful cast of characters, is the driving force behind Austin Powers 2, and is the key source for laughs in the film – and the laughs come aplenty, I can assure you. The rather contrived, tiresome and clichéd storyline – albeit being deliberately clichéd as part of the spoof process – is revitalised into a fresh, clever and delightful plot, one which never gets tiring or redundant despite rehashing many jokes from its predecessor, as well as spewing out as many 'misses' as there are 'hits'. The reason why Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me succeeds, is because of this very reason.

It's a noticeable step down from its predecessor, which is natural and expected seeing that the sequel is no longer a new, fresh and inventive idea – instead it's an old one recycled. However the partnership of Roach and Myers successfully regurgitate the successful formula of old, and manage to make it moderately enjoyable, despite being nothing new. In fact, the film manages to effortlessly insert a number of hilarious pop culture references into the story, without making it seem spontaneous or seemingly random – take for instance Dr. Evil trying to backtalk the US President with quotes from Jerry Maguire, much to his disdain and much to our amusement.

It's hard to exactly describe why Austin Powers is substandard to the original film – albeit not by a huge margin – but in a way it's simply expected, seeing this is a sequel – we all know how they turn out, either downright inferior or just downright bad. Thankfully, this film falls into the former category, and is still a very enjoyable romp and an entertaining farce. The film manages to poke fun at its targets, as well as anything else that gets in the way, with absolute ease and near-perfection, making The Spy Who Shagged Me a groovy ride and a shagadelic experience. I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.