Austin Powers in Goldmember Review

by Susan Granger (ssg722 AT aol DOT com)
July 25th, 2002
Susan Granger's review of "Austin Powers in Goldmember" (New Line Cinema) Mike Myers' third installment in this man of mystery franchise has one highly original, very amusing gimmick: Hollywood is making "Austinpussy" about Austin Powers' life. Guess who's directing? Guess who stars as Powers? Guess who's his co-star? Guess who's playing Dr. Evil and his accomplice Mini Me? Tinseltown's biggest names, including some A-list Oscar and Grammy winners, pop up unexpectedly, and I'm not going to ruin the fun by tipping you off in advance.
    But, other than this opening sequence cameo surprise, there's little new and different here. Mike Myers tackles multiple roles, playing Austin Powers, the villainous Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard, along with the nefarious Goldmember. This dexterous Dutch metallurgist is obsessed with gold after losing his genitalia in a smelting accident and has the unpleasant habit of eating his peeling, sun-damaged skin. Goldmember has kidnapped Austin's father (Michael Caine) and is plotting to make a meteor crash into Earth causing a global flood. To save his father and the world, Austin teams up with Dr. Evil and time-travels back to the hedonistic roller disco days of 1975. Singer Beyonce Knowles of the group Destiny's Child is terrific as Foxxy Cleopatra, while Fred Savage (TVs "The Wonder Years") struggles for laughs as The Mole. Yeah, baby, Seth Green, Michael York, Robert Wagner, Mindy Sterling and Verne J. Troyer appear again too.
    Mike Myers and Michael McCullers fill the script with familiar potty humor and sexual innuendoes, and there's no weird sight gag director Jay Roach won't milk. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Austin Powers in Goldmember" is a gross, crude, shagadelic 6 - but that shouldn't stop the Midas touch of this groovy pop-culture super-sleuth.

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