Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Dr. Evil time-travels back to the 1960s to steal Austin Powers’ mojo (His essence, his aura, his libido, if you will). With the absence of his horny spirit, Austin loses focus and must also return to the 60s in order to regain his essence.

Clever, witty, enjoyable, fun and almost as fresh and original as the first one, save for a few redundancies which didn’t click and Heather Graham who was not as interesting as Elizabeth Hurley in the original (although her outfits are simply smashing!), this movie will definitely satisfy all Austin/Dr. Evil lovers and guarantee a solid box-office summer for Myers and crew. This movie starts off with a bang, as the first 20 minutes deliver some of the film’s funnier moments (The whole Jerry Springer sequence cracked me up). It also seemed as though they put more emphasis on the Dr. Evil character in this follow-up, which was all fine with me, cause I personally found him to be more entertaining than Austin in the first place. Nevertheless, kudos go out to Mike Myers once more for pulling off plenty of smart one-liners, movie homages galore, and tossing a couple of new characters into the mix. Mini-Me, a midget Dr. Evil, seemed to be the biggest crowd pleaser, and the Fat Bastard (Myers under 80 pounds of latex fat), who I could’ve done without, save for one hilarious scene in bed with a female spy.

A couple of other things which didn’t truly delight me were the Austin Powers dancing segues between scenes, which seem forced and self-indulgent, and the song and dance numbers in the film, which appeared to be nothing more than time-fillers. But on the whole, this movie is funny and will have you cracking up at Dr. Evil’s father/son silly banter, Mini-me’s fight with Austin, the multitude of sexual overtures delivered by Austin, and the overall enthusiasm of the entire ride down the 60s free-wheeling, all-loving shagfest. Folks who did not enjoy the first film, will undoubtedly scoff at this sequel, which plot-wise, does even less than its predecessor. But for all of you who enjoyed the first movie for what is was, a goofy, original, over-the-top spy parody, chances are that you will most certainly enjoy the bulk of this film, with its re-occurring characters (and jokes, at times), Myers’ fantastic performance as Evil and Powers, its fun loving, self-deprecating attitude, and all the kitchy goodness that you could stuff inside of ninety minutes of groovy cinema. Now does that make you horny?

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian