Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Hilarious return to the international man of mystery with this non stop laugh ride of a film with Myers doing it again as Austin, Dr. Evil and a new character named Fat Bastard. There are many funny moments in the film especially the Scott/Dr. Evil episode of Jerry Springer and the emergence of Mini-Me, perfectly played by Verne Troyer. The laughs are constant. You'll laugh so hard, you'll have a headache when you leave the theater.

The Spy who Shagged Me - not a title you'd expect to garner much respect, but this movie does okay. With Austin Powers 2 we see the arrival of such characters as Mini-Me and Fat Bastard, who inevitably help steer the sequel way from completely recycling every joke used in the first film. However, there is still that overlap, so a lot of the humor comes off a bit stale and tacky. There is virtually no end to the plot holes, inconsistencies, and various irregularities, but that is often a big part of the humor of the Austin Powers movies - making direct fun of the spy genre, as well as themselves.

And, on a personal note, Heather Graham is by far more attractive than Liz Hurley, and she flaunts it with great respect for us, the juvenile minded male audience. Overall, I'd consider this sequel about on par with the original, not in any specific details, but in all-around entertainment value.

The follow-up to 1997's Austin Powers:International Man of Mystery was probably not a certainty form the get-go:if I recall correctly,the first Austin Powers was NOT the smashing success of a box-office film that many involved initially imagined,and had it not been for a strong reaction from video and DVD renters,the franchise may've stopped at one. Since I happened to enjoy the first one(saw it on video BTW),I can honestly say that while the sequels seemed to have depreciating value,I'm still glad that Myers and company went ahead with the follow-ups.

Now acclimated to the '90s,Austin(Myers,who else?)is about to settle into wedded bliss when he's attacked in his honeymoon suite by a legion of Fembots,given marching orders by a refugeed Dr.Evil(Myers,see previous ref). It seems that Evil's back trying to destroy the free world,this time with the aid of a time machine of his own making. Of course,the British secret service ALSO has a time machine(of course),and Austin races through time to stop Evil's plans,this time with the help of one Felicity Shagwell(Heather Graham,beautiful,sexy,game,and yet somehow out of her element here),an American NOC agent from the year 1969.

A whole series,moving almost in waves,of sight-gags,verbal plays and yet more homages to Bond and Bond-type movies of the '60s,basically keeps the continuity of the original going seamlessly. Much of the cast from the last movie-- particularly Robert Wagner as the chief Hench,Seth Green as sullen son Scott Evil,Mindy Sterling as Frau FArbissima,Michael York as Basil Exposition and Will Ferrell as Mustafa the Assassin(who must be asked the same question THREE times in order to get information. One of my favorite gags from the movie)--are back,supplemented by Rob Lowe as the younger Number Two,Verne Troyer as Evil's identical clone,one-tenth his size and Myers again as Fat Bastard,a Scotish assassin with a violent temper who weighs a metric ton(I think I'm paraphrasing there),among others. Cameos by(among others) Burt Bacharach(as from the previous film)and Elvis Costello are added to give the film it's small slice of romanticism. Jay Roach returns to direct this one,and he,as usual,is near transparent in allowing Myers(not only star and co-producer but also screenwriter)to pretty much take this film as high,low,far,close,loud,soft and whatever as he fancies. While the original's flavor seems to be getting steadily diluted by the "franchise effect" of sequels(in other words,the effect that kind of makes a movie more of a "product" than a piece of entertainment),it still has the same sass,cheeky humor and fun to keep it quite enjoyable.

Austin Powers is one of those movies that has become MORE popular as time wears on. Austin's slang has worked its way into the lexicon and everything from the redhot video to the Austin Powers Penis Enlarger is on sale and raking in meeeeeelions. When news of a sequel hit the streets, fans freaked. It's safe to say that AP2 is rivaled only by The Phantom Menace as 1999's must see.

The wait is over.

The second-most anticipated movie of 1999 finally comes to theaters. We're ecstatic to report that AP is a friggin' laugh riot, as Myers and crew have strung together another brilliant collection of one-liners and over the top, sometimes horribly disgusting, sight gags. The follow-up to 1997's video hit has Austin heading back to the 60s to track down his mojo, stolen by one of Dr. Evil's comically evil hapless henchmen. What's mojo? A multi-colored, stringy looking mess that makes Austin irresistible to the ladies. But the plot isn't so important. This is the Austin you know and love, only this time he's even more raw and hardcore.

It's clear that Myers was given a much larger budget to bring his vision to the screen after the runaway success of Austin Powers on video. The sets in Spy are much more vibrant and huge, the effects (yes, effects) are top-notch, and the pacing is completely nonstop. I had a perma-grin stuck on my face through the whole thing and will need to see it again just because the audience drowned out some lines with laughter.

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty Spy picks up with Austin taking a trip in a time machine back to the smashing 60s where, as we all know, he is a sexual dynamo. The time travel bits can get confusing, but as Basil Exposition of British Intelligence says, "Just sit back and enjoy yourself." Back in the 60s, Austin quickly draws the attention of his nemesis Dr. Evil. The hilarity begins as a patchwork parade of moronic henchmen attempt to wipe out Austin.

Still, the best reason to shell out your cash is that AP2 is clearly Dr. Evil's movie. If he's your favorite, you're in luck. Most important, we see him get some.

The film does lean a bit too heavily on gags from the first flick and some of the "Yeah, baby" schtick grows old fast. (When your Mammy starts saying "Yeah, baby," it's clearly tired, right?) Still, fans of the original will feel right at home with the budget destructo devices, the horrid teeth, and the clumsy bumblings of Austin himself. In a summer full of high concepts and big budget, AP2 is just the ticket.

I remember when "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" came out in '99. The movie tried to use "Star Wars" fame to promote itself as it was being released around the same time.

Austin Powers (Mike Myers) is back and so is Number Two (Robert Wagner) and so is Mustafa (Will Ferrell). Austin is single again because his wife ended up being a fembot. Go figure. Dr. Evil (also Mike Myers) has a new scheme in mind. This time he wants to travel back in time to 1969, when Powers was frozen, and steal his mojo. For that task he uses a new henchman, Fat B_____d (IMDb won't allow me to write it).

I actually liked "Spy Who Shagged Me" more than "International Man." The addition of Mini Me (Verne Troyer) was hilarious and as I said about part one, I much prefer to see more Dr. Evil. The back and forth between him and his son Scott (Seth Green) is priceless.

The absence of Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley) meant that Austin would need another female partner fawning over him. When he followed Dr. Evil back to 1969 he was partnered up with Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham) who, much like Vanessa, was a sex symbol with a gun.

The movie suffered a little with one of its run on jokes (the rocket ship shaped like a phallus). There were a few more stars which didn't help much, but we got a tad more Dr. Evil which was a big bonus.