Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Review
by Kevin Patterson (kevinp AT princeton DOT edu)January 8th, 1998
This review is being reposted due to formatting errors which caused some of
the text to be repeated in the original.
Film review by Kevin Patterson
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery *** (out of four)
PG-13, 1997
Directed by Jay Roach. Written by Mike Myers.
Starring Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley.
Okay, so "Austin Powers" is not exactly a classic of modern cinema, but it
does provide some good laughs and a clever parody of James Bond-style spy flicks. In fact, I would dare say that, while it seems a little unfocused at times, it rates higher than Tomorrow Never Dies, the newest Bond movie, for simple entertainment. The script, written by Mike Myers, pits '60s secret
agent Austin Powers (Myers) against his arch-nemesis Dr. Evil (also Myers),
both of whom have been cryogenically frozen for the past 30 years and thus are not up to date on developments such as the end of the Cold War and political correctness.
This fish-out-of-water premise could have easily grown tiresome, and indeed it provides for what are by and large the weakest jokes. Fortunately, Myers adds
to this premise the fact that Austin Powers and Dr. Evil are not nearly as competent as James Bond and his various adversaries. For example, in a chase scene towards the end, Austin commandeers a large vehicle in trying to escape Dr. Evil's fortress and proceeds to get it stuck in a narrow hallway. Dr.
Evil, meanwhile, is preoccupied with pathetically dumb attempts to relate to
his teenage son. His fortress isn't quite all it's cracked up to be either, as some of the booby traps seem to be in need of repair.se the fact that Austin Powers and Dr. Evil are not nearly as competent as James Bond and his various adversaries.
Some of the best scenes in the movie come when it extends the spoof by
allowing itself to be self-conscious. For example, after hijacking a nuclear warhead and issuing their demands, Dr. Evil and his associates break into typically campy sinister laughter. Instead of cutting away, director Jay Roach lingers on the group as the laughter clearly begins to drag on, and finally
they are all left staring blankly at each other, not sure what is supposed to come next. And when Dr. Evil captures Austin and Vanessa, he literally orders them - and I am not making this up - to a "needlessly time-consuming and
easily escapable mode of execution." Three guesses whether they survive or
not, and the first two don't count.
Not all of the humor works; a running joke, in which Austin and/or Vanessa
seem to be about to appear nude but do not (due to camera angles or convenient placement of props and furniture), not only recurs too many times for its own good but also manages to drag on endlessly each time. And, as I said, most of the fish-out-of-water jokes are only marginally funny (with a few exceptions); by and large, it was much more amusing when, in the movie's opening scene, we saw Austin and Dr. Evil *in* their original element as they confront each
other at the "Electric Psychedelic Swingers' Club."
As in Myers's work on "Saturday Night Live," there are just enough times where the jokes fizzle to make "Austin Powers" somewhat less than overwhelming. But it's good campy entertainment, and worth seeing for anyone who enjoys parodies or even comedy in general.
- - - - -
Visit my Film Reviews page at:
http://members.aol.com/KTPattersn/reviews.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.
