New Line Home Video | Review by Dan Taylor
The
original AUSTIN POWERS:
INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY, released
to little fanfare and less critical acclaim
back in the spring of 1997 became one of
those unique cinematic success stories.
Though its box office take of about $50
million was impressive (especially considering
the $18 million budget), it was the phenomenal
video, laser and DVD sales (themselves in
excess of $50 mill) that paved the way for
this highly anticipated sequel.
Once again, filmgoers are
forced to take home the lesson that bigger
isn't necessarily better.
Which isn't to say that THE
SPY WHO SHAGGED ME is bad or even a disappointment.
It's just another in a series of sequels
that fails to live up to: a) the original;
and b) the hype.
Picking up precisely where
AP: IMOM left off, AP: TSWSM finds our hero
once again matching wits with his arch nemesis
Dr. Evil (again played by star Mike Meyers).
Despite a slow opening (and tedious credit
sequence that overdoes one of the original's
lesser scenes), the flick kicks into high
gear once Dr. Evil and his motley crue —
including Robert Wagner as a scarred No.
2 and Seth Green as Dr. Evil's "quasi
evil" son Scott — are reunited
in a Starbucks. (And that's just one of
the pesky product placements that turn up
in TSHSM, though it is the funniest.)
While world domination's still
on his mind, Dr. Evil also plans to steal
Austin Powers' mojo (think of it as "The
Force") with the help of a renegade
Scottish guard named Fat Bastard, played
by (who else?) Meyers under a ton of makeup
in what has to be the most loathsome portrayal
of a Scot in screen history. This corpulent
henchman makes Goldfinger look bulimic,
complete with folds of flesh and a penchant
for spitting while he talks. And we won't
even mention his taste for babies!
Courtesy of a time machine,
the flick drops Dr. Evil, the brilliant
creation Mini-Me and Austin back in swinging
1969 London, providing another opportunity
for set pieces, dance sequences and the
like. Unfortunately, some of the best gags
from the first flick are repeated here,
giving it less the feel of a sequel and
more the feel of a remake for those that
weren't hip enough to see the first installment.
Perhaps what's really missing
from THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME is a heart.
Despite its comedic nature, we actually
cared for Austin in the first film. He was
the ultimate fish out of water, caught in
a time when everything he stood for was
gone. Here he's almost an afterthought,
with all the good scenes and dialogue belonging
to Dr. Evil, Mini-Me, Fat Bastard and Scott.
And though she may look fab in her super-short
minis and Ursala Andress-like bikini, Heather
Graham pulls up sorta lame in the acting
chops department. Geez, who thought that
Elizabeth Hurley'd be missed?
I don't want to sound like
I'm coming down too hard on the flick. Yes,
I laughed. In fact, I laughed plenty. Yes,
I'll probably go see it again. It's just
unfortunate that Meyers took 2 years to
make a film in which a good 25% of the material
is either lifted from the original or wouldn't
have made the grade for that flick.
