Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me review by Orlando C. Fernando June 14, 1999 Storyline: 3 (0=worst, 10=best) Originality: 4 Acting: 7 Special Effects: 7 Overall: C+ (F=worst, A=best)

It's time once again for the most shaggadellic Mike Myers to return in his madcap role as Austin Powers, the sexy 60's spy which sort of parodies James Bond and his world of films (adventures, gadgets, leading ladies). This time around it's not as much a wildride as much as its a stop and go sort of affair.

Dr. Evil is back on earth again which everyone could have predicted would happen from the ending of the first movie. This time he's making Austin's life a living hell by using a time machine to go back in time 2 years after Austin was frozen. But when he gets back there, he doesn't choose to kill him but instead...takes his mojo. Mojo is Austin's "get up and go", if you will, to wow the ladies in bed. So Austin has to go back in time also to find Dr. Evil and his mojo. And then for extra measure, throw in a laser to destroy Washington D.C. and the world. I know folks, the storyline doesn't get any more complex than this.

Elizabeth Hurley has a brief cameo in the beginning, basically to get her out of the picture so Austin can shag (frolic with and make love to) other ladies again. But this time Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham) is the agent object of Austin's fantasies, higher on the sexiness scale but lower on the intelligence and class scale of Elizabeth's or even Mimi Roger's character of the first film. Those silly dancing intermissions are back along with the Austin 1-liners for the ladies.

Mike Myers wears three hats in this film, which is not unusual considering his multiple roles in "So I Married An Axe Murderer". Aside from Austin and Dr. Evil, he also plays Fat Bastard, a sort of massive Scottish mercenary of Dr. Evil's determined to destroy Austin and do a little shagging himself in the process. I do like his Dr. Evil role much more in this sequel than Austin's as he's allowed much more comedy and different emotions interacting with mini-me, a midget version of him. In fact, Dr. Evil overall this time was his best character! Some of Austin's tirades get tiresome to me now. Fat Bastard? Well, he'll gross you out!

Three major points annoy me in this film: The length, nature, and repetition of some of the humor of this film. This is coming from someone who really enjoyed the first Austin Powers movie. Lenthwise, some humor bits definitely carry too long and you feel you want the plot to proceed. Much, much more of the nature of humor was anatomic, particularly the sexual ones, than the first movie. It turns into a teenage boy's laughfest at times. Thirdly, some humor repeated later, such as Dr. Evil's traveling spaceship, was hilarious the first time and very old and long winded the second time. It just seemed an opportunity for some celebrities to make cameo appearances. Having said that, the 40% rest of the humor (light sexual and not) was all right and often great. The whole "Jerry Springer Show" bit was on target and I laughed with most antics between Dr. Evil and mini-me. Dr. Evil's son Scott (our beloved Seth Green of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fame) kept with his comic character insulting Dr. Evil and mini-me throughout the film, providing the best wit in the film. Otherwise, it's mostly toilet, slapstick, and sight gag humor, only more turned up this second film.

Well, I didn't expect a Titanic storyline when seeing this sequel or even most parts of the story to make sense. Austin's out-of-placeness in the 90's is what made Austin funny in the first film and the humor simply flowed with that. But I did expect more than half intelligence of the supporting cast and was not expecting so many explicit breaks from the plot to "insert full humor piece here". The humor should roll from the characters' situations, which they did less of here, and not just by the mere appearance of the characters themselves. The beginning and the climax of the film were most enjoyable, which served exactly that. However, the film could do without about 30 minutes of the sophomoric heavy sexual innuendo humor. Worth perhaps a matinee price or an evening rental with the guys, I think Austin did lose some of his mojo spunk this second time around. But let's see about a better Austin 3! Yeah baby, yeah!

Copyright 2001 by Orlando C. Fernando. Austin Powers picture is copyright altocelebs.net. This page is for personal use only. It may be openly distributed for nonprofit in whole or part, but authorship must be credited.