Starring: Mike Myers, Beyonce Knowles, Michael Caine
Director: Jay Roach
Rated: M15+
MIKE Myers produced the first Austin Powers film in 1997.
It was a lightweight and cheeky spoof on the James Bond films. It made an unexpected $70 million. He followed it with Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me in 1999 which made $312 million. With money of this order rolling in they had to make a further sequel and in just eight weeks on release overseas Austin Powers in Goldmember has already made $267 million.
It seems that even though these films have progressively got more crude, offensive and dull, they have become escapist mainstays. I already despair at what the fourth instalment is going to be like.
There are about 30 gags in this film. Twenty of them involve toilet humour. It’s all about exploiting the cheeky laugh of puberty. As we might expect from the title of the film, another 10 or so gags are about male genitals. I wonder what sort of reception this film would get if it concentrated on women’s genitals in the same way?
This time around the material is much more crude. The names of the characters tell some of the story. From the second film Fat Bastard makes a flatulent return and is joined in this film by Dixie Normous, Goldmember, and the Japanese twins, Fook Mi and Fook Yu.
Austin Powers in Goldmember is also quite explicitly racist. The Dutch and Belgians cop it in spades. I dare Myers to do a similar job on the Israelis and Nigerians in the next film.
These films have now taken on such credibility that Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Steven Spielberg, Dick Van Dyke, Britney Spears, Quincy Jones, John Travolta, Ozzie Osborne, Kevin Spacey and Danny DeVito all make cameo appearances.
It is, I am afraid, guilt by association for all concerned.
And the plot? Does it matter? Well for the record, Dr Evil (Mike Myers) and Mini-Me (Verne Troyer) join up with the Dutch madman Goldmember (Mike Myers) to plot yet another scheme to rule the world. They kidnap Austin’s lecherous father Nigel (Michael Caine). To stop the threat Austin Powers (Mike Myers) has to travel back to the 1970s and find Goldmember. Here he meets with an old girlfriend, detective Foxy Cleopatra (Beyonce Knowles) and together they save the world.
