|
 |
|
Austin Powers in Goldmember
***
Cinema Releases - July 26, 2002
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 12. USA.
95 minutes. Directed by Jay Roach. Written by Michael McCullers, Mike Myers;
based on characters created by Mike Myers. Starring Mike Myers, Beyonce Knowles,
Nichole Hiltz, Michael York, Michael Caine, Seth Green, Eddie Adams, Robert
Wagner, Mindy Sterling, Verne Troyer.
We are now so familiar with the rhythms of the
Austin Powers series that it no longer needs inspiration from James Bond,
and can quite happily get away with referencing itself. We know the manner
of Austin's corny puns, the way Dr. Evil relates to Mini-Me and Scott, the
way minions cackle. And we know the keywords, which are any and all variations
on the words 'shag', 'groovy', 'horny' and 'baby'.
The first movie was a masterful blend of farce
and retro satire, jazzed up with colour, energy and flaunted sex appeal.
The second was garbage, but perhaps it was necessary to establish characters
and situations with more relevance to the Austin franchise itself than its
inspirations. Now we have "Austin Powers in Goldmember", which
nods to Bond in its fundamentals but goes its own way in terms of rhythm
and design. It's a fluorescent, shadadelic free-for-all, and surprisingly,
it's pretty darn funny.
The plot involves British super-spy Austin (Mike
Myers) once again doing battle with Belgian criminal mastermind Dr. Evil
(Mike Myers). A secondary villain named Goldmember (Mike Myers) has kidnapped
Austin's father (Michael Caine) and hidden him in 1975. There is little reason
for this time-travel other than to show a lot of goofy afros and disco globes,
and to show Austin hooking up with a sassy blaxploitation sidekick named
Foxy Cleopatra (Beyonce Knowles). Screenwriting teachers everywhere will
be scratching their heads at this flimsily justified plotting, but it's good
enough for me.
There are theatrically suggestive bodily function
jokes, as when Austin hides at the side of a water fountain, and from the
point of view of a security camera, he seems to be piddling in a hallway.
There are Dr. Evil's indulgent speeches, in which he doesn't realise the
irony of having an evil plan called 'Preparation H' and doesn't know when
to stop interrupting people in order to make a point. And of course there
is Goldmember, who never says anything deeper than, "I am Dutch, you know!
I like gooold!"
Thankfully there is less gross-out humour than
in "Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me", although Goldmember has a penchant
for eating his own scabs, and the character of Fat Bastard returns, so that
much can be made of the fact that he is, well, a fat bastard. We also get
goofily exaggerated plot twists and reaction shots, gleefully synthetic
production design and a parade of celebrity cameos I would not dream of
revealing.
Much of this stuff is no longer funny because
of its spoof value, but because it is pantomime of the lamest order. The
timing is intentionally off. If you don't latch onto it, you will find it
embarrassing, but if you have a sympathy for the way Myers creates characters,
you may just find the whole thing rather infectious. "Goldmember" is not
exactly great art, but somehow it did make me laugh a lot.
COPYRIGHT©
2002 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
2002 Reviews
(alphabetical)
2002 Reviews (by star
rating)
Archive of all cinema reviews
(alphabetical)
Review Archive
Index
UK
Critic main page
|
|
![[Image]](http://www.ukcritic.com/posbanr2.gif)