Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Review
by Cameron Shelley (cpshelle AT watarts DOT uwaterloo DOT ca)May 29th, 1997
AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY
A film review by Cameron Shelley
Copyright 1997 Cameron Shelley
Review by:
Cameron Shelley -- May 28, 1997.
Review URL:
http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~cpshelle/Reviews/apimm.html
Cast:
Mike Myers (Austin Powers, Dr. Evil), Elizabeth
Hurley (Vanessa Kensington), Michael York
(Basil Exposition), Robert Wagner (Number
Two).
Screenplay:
Mike Myers
Director:
Jay Roach
Producer:
Eric McLeod, Demi Moore, Mike Myers, Claire
Polstein, Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd
By rights, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
shouldn't work nearly as well as it does. The very idea of
a James Bond spoof written and acted by Mike Myers
forbodes an old, one-note idea stretched further than it
will really go to fill out a long 90 minutes. The selection
of a '60s theme could have brought on a saccharine
appeal to baby-boomer nostalgia. The obvious
comparison is with a turn-of-the-decade Saturday Night
Live sketch, with a two-minute premise turned into a
ten-minute yawner. Say, wasn't there a SNL sketch (10
years ago or so) that featured a TV panel discussion show
of James Bond's arch nemeses on "How to kill Bond"?
("When you have Bond, just shoot him!")
But Myers has fashioned himself a winner with this one.
The plot, of course, is ludicrous. It begins in 1967, when
Austin Powers is a fashion photographer/secret agent
who's smashingly popular with the screaming girlie set -
despite his bad teeth. Austin's arch-nemesis, the
aptly-named Dr. Evil (that's Dr. Evil - he didn't spend six
years in evil medical school to be called Mr. Evil!) gets
sick of having his schemes foiled and places himself in
cryogenic suspension for thirty years, when he figures he
can make his dreams of world domination come true
without Austin's infernal interference. But British
Intelligence places Austin in suspension too, pending
Evil's return. In 1997 both are defrosted to meet again on
the field of international intrigue. But, naturally, the
world has changed a great deal in their absence.
Of course, all this has basically been done before, most
notably by Woody Allen in Sleeper, and Casino Royale,
as well as various Star Trek episodes. For that matter,
humor at the expense of outdated underground figures
goes back to the various take-offs of Key Largo done on
such sketch comedy shows as Wayne and Shuster before
Myers was born. Much of the comedy has obvious
antecedents as well. Joke names such as Basil Exposition
(who fills Powers in after his unfreezing) and Alotta
Fagina (who, uh, is also involved in warming Powers
up) are reminiscent of Hot Shots, while numerous
winking spoofs of Bond movie cliches (Evil tries to kill
Powers by lowering him into a pool of bad-tempered,
mutant sea bass - the proper sharks being too scarce in
the '90s - with an "unnecessarily slow dipping
mechanism") might have come out of Police Squad or
Get Smart.
Fortunately, though, Myers gives APIMM a life of its
own. Despite being caricatures come to life, both Powers
and Evil are brought to the screen with a lively but light
touch. Despite being seriously warped, both characters
muddle through the same silly problems as the rest of us
- albeit writ large sometimes. (This is where they clearly
differ from characters like Tom Baxter from Purple Rose
of Cairo.) When either character is displaying his absurd
side, we have more normal characters on screen to
observe reacting appropriately, e.g., Vanessa Kensington
and Scott Evil. Jokes are seldom pushed beyond their
limits, so the laughs are natural and not often forced.
And the jokes come from many sources: anachronisms,
movie and TV spoofs, in-jokes, sight-gags, as well as
broad physical comedy. Since they are not solely empty
slots in a Bond film parody, Powers and Evil take on all
these roles without difficulty. But even as Powers and
Evil become more human, Vanessa, as played gamely by
Elizabeth Hurley, becomes more like her
Moneypenny-ish mother as she inevitably falls for
Powers. The result is a pretty good balance of
opportunities for humor throughout the film.
APIMM is also a decent piece of film-making. In
particular, the music and costumes add a great deal to the
impact of the movie. Myers, as usual, does play to the
camera, but always to punctuate a scene and not simply
to beg for laughs. (Well, one or two of Power's "Yeah
baby!"s come over a bit forced.) Here, his tendency to
mugging for the audience stands him in good stead.
There are a handful of awkward moments when the
pacing lets down, but not enough to complain seriously
about. For the most part, APIMM delivers.
It is encouraging to see Mike Myers developing his
strengths as a comedian beyond the narrowly parodic
Wayne's World movies. In an era that has seen several
poor outings by SNL alumni, we can hope that another
Steve Martin is beginning to emerge.
</dev/cam
--
Cameron Shelley - Department of Philosophy - University of Waterloo Email: [email protected] - Phone: (519) 888-4567 x2555 Me: <URL:http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~cpshelle/> Dept: <URL:http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/PHIL/cpshelle/philosophy.html>
More on 'Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'...
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
