Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Directed by Jay Roach
Starring Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Seth Green, Robert Wagner, Rob Lowe and Verne Troyer.
According to an internet poll, this was the second-most anticipated film of the summer of ’99. And, I will admit that I found the first one to be incredibly funny! It always seems to be that I only see Mike Myers sequels in theaters: I saw Wayne’s World 2 in the theater, but not Wayne’s World. And now, I didn’t see Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery in the theater, but I got to see Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. How odd.
The plot is incredibly simple: Dr. Evil (Myers) is freed from his orbiting Big Boy with a new plot for world domination: go back in time to the 1969 and put a giant laser on the moon to hold the world hostage. And, to keep Austin Powers (also Myers) from stopping him, he has an operative Fat Bastard (also Meyers), a Scotsman who weighs exactly one ton, steal Austin’s mojo from the frozen Austin! So, to preserve the timeline and stop Dr. Evil, the mojo-less Ausin must go back in time to 1969. There, he finds a new female sidekick in the form of CIA Agent Felicity Shagwell (Graham). Plus, Dr. Evil throws off the officials of the 1960’s by acting like a 1990’s villain! Oh, and we can’t forget the clone of Dr. Evil, Mini-me (Troyer). He’s exactly like Dr. Evil, only 1/8 the size, and sibling rivalry evolves between Mini-me and Scott Evil (Green). That about sums it up.
The problem that many critics have with comedy sequels is that they are generally below the original. Austin Powers is not below the original, but it’s not above it either. It is about on par with the original. And, being the second-most anticipated film of the summer, that adds up to this film being a bit of a let-down. Don’t get me wrong, if you loved the first one, you’ll get a kick out of this one, but I was expecting…more. But, the film has a lot of great gags nonetheless. A pretty good way to kill an afternoon.