Directed By: Jay Roach
Starring: Mike Myers, Heather Graham, Michael York
Tag line: "You Were Expecting Someone Else?"
Trivia: In addition to his three credited roles, Mike Myers is also the voice of the astronaut at the beginning of the film
A sequel to 1997’s International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me reunites many of the characters from the first film while also throwing a few new ones into the mix.
Dr. Evil (Myers) tests out his new time machine by traveling back to the year 1969, where he intends to steal the “mojo” (aka the sexual energy) of his chief rival, super-spy Austin Powers (Myers again). With the help of his newest operative, Fat Bastard (yep... Myers again!), Dr. Evil’s plan goes off without a hitch, leaving Austin almost completely impotent. To recover his mojo, Austin follows Dr. Evil to 1969 and teams up with the gorgeous Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham), a CIA Operative as sexually outgoing as he is. But can Austin retrieve his precious mojo in time to stop Dr. Evil from taking over the world?
Myers flexes his comedic muscles throughout Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and is once again solid as the over-sexed title character (the opening credit sequence, where a naked Austin prances around a hotel lobby, is precision comedy at its finest). But like 1997’s International Man of Mystery, it’s Dr. Evil who steals the show; an early scene in which he and his son, Scott (Seth Green), appear on The Jerry Springer Show is positively hilarious. Also returning are Michael York as Austin’s superior, Basil Exposition; Mindy Sterling as the over-zealous henchwoman, Frau Farbissina; and Robert Wagner as Number Two, Dr. Evil’s second-in-command, whose business savvy is entirely unappreciated.
Along with the old, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me introduces some new characters to the series. Heather Graham is sexy as hell as Felicity Shagwell, and Rob Lowe does a good Robert Wagner impersonation, portraying a younger version of Number Two. As for Myers, he disappears behind layers of make-up as Fat Bastard, the incredibly obese Scottish double agent assigned to swipe Austin’s mojo, but the true stand-out is Mini Me (Vern Troyer), Dr. Evil’s mute clone who stands just over two feet tall. From the moment he’s introduced, Dr. Evil and Mini-Me are inseparable, much to Scott’s chagrin (one of the film’s best scenes has Dr. Evil serenading Mini-Me with an updated rendition of Bill Withers’ 1981 R&B hit, "Just the Two of Us").
Not everything in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me works; a sequence featuring Will Ferrell as Mustafa, one of Dr. Evil’s henchmen, goes absolutely nowhere, and some scenes are way too disgusting to be humorous (like when Austin mistakes a boiling stool sample for a pot of coffee). Still, I laughed a lot while watching this movie, and even though it’s not as original as International Man of Mystery, The Spy Who Shagged Me is every bit as funny.
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