Austin Powers (Mike Myers), hipster secret agent and saver-of-the-world, has returned, baby. He’s still sporting the mushroom-shaped chest hair and yellow teeth, yet his legendary mojo, his shagability, entrances gorgeous CIA agent Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham).
The sequel to the original Powers film starts where the first left off: Dr. Evil orbits the world in his Big Boy spaceship while Powers frolics in bed with sexy his new wife, Vanessa (Elizabeth Hurley in a cameo re-appearance). To Powers’ horror he learns that Vanessa is a fembot, a dastardly creation of Dr. Evil’s. After Vanessa literally explodes, Powers stares at her wire-filled neck in shock until he realizes, hallelujah, he’s single again.
Meanwhile, Dr. Evil (also played by Myers) has invented a time machine that returns the doctor to 1969. Taking advantage of the cryogenically frozen Powers, who had frozen himself to do battle with the doctor in the future, Dr. Evil plans to steal Powers’ mojo. With Powers neutered, he’ll be free to demand a hundred billion dollars from the United States, threatening to liquidate major U.S. cities with his moon laser if his demands aren’t met.
Powers enlists Shagwell to help him thwart the bald evildoer and his cloned midget sidekick, Mini-Me (Verne Troyer). Aided by a psychedelic 90’s Volkswagen bug, Powers and Shagwell defy time to revisit the 60’s, hoping to keep both Powers’ mojo and the Unites States intact.
The first twenty minutes of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me are hilarious, beginning with amusing credits a la Star Wars, and followed by Powers boogying through a hotel naked. Various objects block his key anatomy, maintaining the movie’s PG-13 rating and the audience’s laughter.
While consistently funny, this second Powers flick lacks the smart originality of the first script. Many gags are repeated, such as an evil character surviving when they shouldn’t have, and there are too many references to body functions and rear-ends. On the plus side are spoofs of such icons as Starbuck’s and The Jerry Springer Show (My Father’s Evil and Wants to Take Over the World), along with a humorous sequence where slice-of-life characters describe a phallus shaped rocket.
Myers plays a perfect dual role as sex-crazed Powers and fiendish Dr. Evil, but his third character, an obese Scotsman, becomes trite in its fat references. Graham (Lost in Space, Scream 2) gives a solid performance, infusing her comedy with smarts. Troyer as Mini-Me displays pitbull intensity.
The 60’s costumes are vivid, the music trippy, and the parties groovy. Powers makes sure he’s having a good time, and that’s what this movie provides, a good time, baby. The film is rated PG-13 for sexual innuendo and crude humor.
+ Kendeyl Johansen
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