AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME by DeWyNGaLe (John Sylva) Rating: B+
"I'm throwing you a frickin' bone!"
- Dr. Evil
Mike Myers, you certainly did throw us a frickin' bone here in what you call
the biggest Austin Powers adventure yet.' Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged me is
the sequel to the 1997 smash comedy Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Many are
skeptical about sequels, saying that the sequel is never better or as good as the
original, but Austin Powers: TSWSM goes beyond the first film.
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me stars Mike Myers in three different roles. He
reprises his role as the title character, Austin Powers, the shagadelic spy whose body was
frozen in 1967, and unfrozen in 1997 to stop his long time nemesis Dr. Evil, also played
by Mike Myers, from destroying the earth. TSWSM leaves off where the original stopped,
with Dr. Evil's Frisch's Big Boy' space capsule floating through space. Dr. Evil
returns back to earth by ejecting from his capsule, plotting to go back in his time
machine to the year 1967, in which he plans to steal Austin Powers' "mojo", what
keeps Austin going with spy talents. Upon his return to his secret lair, which is now a
Starbucks coffee shop, Dr. Evil learns that his evil henchman, which includes the
returning Robert Wagner as Number 2 and Mindy Sterling as Frau, have created a 1/8 size
clone of Dr. Evil, which is later named Mini Me. The evil Mini Me replaces Scott Evil,
played by Seth Green, as Dr. Evil's son in the madman's mind, because Dr. Evil thinks of
Scott to be only "quasi-evil." Dr. Evil has always wanted a son that is evil
just like him, and now he has one. Dr. Evil tells Mini Me, "You complete me," in
a loving manner. Dr. Evil loving? Wow! Mike Myers' third role is as Fat Bastard, a
Scottish henchman of Dr. Evil's, who is sent to steal the mojo from Austin Powers' frozen
body.
Austin Powers learns of Dr. Evil's trip back into the 60s, and uses his own time machine
to take him back to 1967, to try to save his mojo before Fat Bastard gets a hold of it.
Once arriving in the year 1967, Austin travels to his "pad", his smashing
home/dance club, where he meets Felicity Shagwell, played by Heather Graham, a CIA Agent
who is willing to help him in his journey to stop Dr. Evil.
As the film progresses, hilarious one liners are thrown at us, mainly by Dr. Evil, for
example, "Don't go there, girlfriend!" to the President of the United States.
Many witty gags take place, note the entire tent scene, and just plain, funny scenes which
are so stupid- they're funny come a dozen per fifteen minutes. Take for example, Scott
Evil going on The Jerry Springer Show complaining about how evil his father is. The way
Austin Powers: TSWSM uses its humor is clever, throwing a hilarious scene at you, followed
by five minutes of one liners, followed by another outrageous scene, so you never stop
laughing. There was honestly not one moment in Austin Powers: TSWSM where I wasn't
laughing. The last film that I laughed so hard in, was well, Austin Powers! It is apparent
that Mike Myers knew how funny this film was while writing it. The film even makes fun of
itself in a line, something along the lines of, "It's funny how England and southern
California look nothing alike." TSWSM was filmed in southern California, but was
supposed to take place in England. I can tell you one thing- He is having a lot of fun
with this enormously popular character, which is all over television, newspapers,
magazines, and the movie theaters.
I believe that Dr. Evil got more attention in the TSWSM than Austin Powers did. Dr. Evil
provided more laughs, more memorable moments, and more interesting dialogue than Austin
did this time around, who seems to missing the funny touch that he had in the first film.
I felt that Austin really did have his mojo taken away, but from screenplay writer Mike
Myers, not Fat Bastard.
Also making a great addition to the series is Mini Me, who is played by Verne Troyer. Even
though the midget actor is 30 years old, he is adorable by Dr. Evil's side constantly.
The first Austin Powers film had barely any sentimental quality, such as lack of character
development, barely any detailed plot characteristics, and barely any good acting, but
Austin Powers TSWSM actually shows some quality behind the frequent humor. Mike Myers,
with his three roles, acts as Eddie Murphy did in The Nutty Professor, disguising himself
completely in one of the roles. (Fat Bastard) All three characters are different, and Mike
Myers does do a good job handling each one of them. Heather Graham made a great addition
with her talent to TSWSM, and does a much better job than Elizabeth Hurley did, who gave a
very flat performance in the original, speaking her lines without any feeling or emotion.
Speaking of Hurley, she can be seen in TSWSM for a few brief moments. Hopefully, Graham
tags along for future Austin Powers adventures.
The Bottom Line- A groovy sequel that Mike Myers put all of his mojo into writing.