Austin Powers In Goldmember
Directed by: Jay Roach
Written by: Mike Myers, Michael McCullers
Starring: Mike Myers, Michael Caine, Beyoncé Knowles, Seth Green

It’s a real shame to see a funny joke get stretched beyond its limits, and I must admit, I was under the impression that the potential humour of the Austin Powers movies had already been exhausted by the second film. The budgets get higher, and the advertising campaigns get more extravagant, but the humour just gets more repetitive, and more low brow. I found myself asking, do we really need another Austin Powers movie? But I guess as long as Hollywood needs another cash cow, we’re going to get part 3, whether the joke is dead or not. (Incidentally, the popularity of The Spy Who Shagged Me would seem to indicate that the Austin Powers schtick is in fact still very much alive for most people, much to my bewilderment.)

One must not forget, however, that Mike Myers has a history of proven comedic genius (he is Canadian, after all) and watching the first Austin Powers movie again reminded me of just how many classic jokes it contained. So maybe, just maybe, I was jumping to the wrong conclusion in thinking that the third Austin Powers flick would be a complete dud…

Austin Powers In Goldmember has basically the same team behind it as the other two movies did. It was directed by Jay Roach, written by Mike Myers (with some help from a guy named Michael McCullers — an old SNL acquaintance), and stars Mike Myers himself in no less than 4 roles this time around. The new addition to his repertoire is the movie’s secondary villain Goldmember, an odd Dutchman with peeling skin, extremely flexible legs, and a golden “package”, which he obtained through an unfortunate (?) smelting accident. He is building a tractor beam which Dr. Evil has somehow managed to name “Preparation H”, and together they are hoping to use it to flood the earth. (I’ll be honest, the movie’s plot is not one of its stronger points… I could barely remember that much about it.)

The movie brings back everyone’s favourite wacky characters including Dr. Evil’s rebellious son Scott (Seth Green), his one-eyed second-in-command Number Two (Robert Wagner), and his miniscule clone Mini-Me (Verne Troyer). New faces include Beyoncé Knowles of Destiny’s Child fame, who plays Austin’s female sidekick for the movie (a blaxploitation tribute named Foxxy Cleopatra), Michael Caine in a clever role as Austin’s father, Nigel Powers, and of all people, Fred Savage as a one-joke wonder, the “mole” known as Number Three. (The one joke wonder part is not his fault, mind you.)

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, to say the least. Though it is not hysterical, it is genuinely funny a lot of the time, and that’s all you can really ask for. The amount of gross out humour was a little more within acceptable limits this time (thankfully Fat Bastard only makes a few short appearances… he’s better in small doses), and although there were some running gags that I have grown tired of, there were more than enough creative and truly witty jokes to make up for the redundancy. Sometimes the extent that Myers will go for a single one-liner is so crazy that it’s funny in itself (ie. calling a company Roboto Industries just so he can deliver a line from the Styx song).

Regarding Myers’ new character Goldmember… well, he proves that he can talk with yet another quirky accent, but other than that I think they could have come up with something a little more outlandish. Some people may be a little taken aback by the Dutch jokes that are made at Goldmember’s expense. Myself, being part Dutch, I didn’t find them offensive… but I didn’t find them all that funny either (although Michael Caine’s line about the only 2 things in the world that he hates was priceless). The least they could have done is made fun of how Dutch people are cheap, because they are, and I would have been more than willing to chuckle at that.

There were a lot of pop culture references, and a ridiculous number of cameos (Steven Spielberg, Britney Spears, Tom Cruise, and the Osbournes, to name a few), which will probably date the film a few years from now. This is not to say they were all cheap jokes… in fact, the “Hollywood” movie adaptation of Austin Powers’ life was one of the most memorable parts of the entire film, and I’m sure it’s the part that everyone will be talking about afterwards.

As with the other Austin Powers movie, some of the biggest laughs just come from the ridiculous images we’re presented with… Dr. Evil and Mini-Me sporting bandanas and rapping in prison, the “shadow puppet” segment, and what we assume to be Steven Spielberg doing cartwheels during an Austin Powers dance routine are a couple of the moments that have been positively captured in my mind after viewing this flick.

So does the Austin Powers franchise deserve to live on? Well, in my mind they have redeemed themselves a little bit from the last outing, and that is a good thing, but I still don’t think that there is enough substance left to make another worthwhile film. Quit while you’re ahead, that’s what I say! Unfortunately, if this movie banks nicely, we could easily see a fourth Austin Powers adventure in the not too distant future, and once again, I will have my doubts. But what do I know, it could turn out again to be a pleasant surprise. I just hope that Mike Myers knows what he’s doing. — Sean