Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) May 11, 2008
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Jay Roach
The career of Mike Myers has been strangely sporadic, with peaks of popularity exploding him back into the public consciousness before he slinks away again to consider his next move. As one of the more successful Saturday Night Live graduates, it was a character from that very show which brought him to the big screen in the first place. With Wayne’s World and Wayne’s World 2, Myers established his big screen persona, but then took four years away from everything before coming back with his star-making live-action role: Austin Powers. This James Bond-spoofing displacement comedy spawned two sequels, but again, since Austin Powers in Goldmember was released back in 2002 we’ve only seen him in one major production (vocal performances aside) - as the title character in The Cat in the Hat. So it’s as his first new personal project in six years, The Love Guru, approaches release this summer, that we return to his most popular franchise to date.
Austin Powers is the grooviest cat in swinging 60’s London, and as a secret agent he excels in sleuthing, catching the bad guy and getting the girl. But when his arch nemesis, Dr. Evil, freezes himself to return in the future, Austin is forced to do the same. By the time he is unthawed it is the conservative 90’s and life has changed significantly. Paired with his old partner’s daughter, the uptight Vanessa Kensington, the two set out to thwart Dr Evil’s plan to ransom the world for (all together now) “one hundred billion dollars”!
This first Austin Powers outing was a great success, probably unexpectedly so, but the mix of Myers’ parody-filled script and committed performances (as both Powers and his nemesis, Dr. Evil) make it a well-deserved favourite. With the initial concepts ploughed so deeply in this movie, the sequels were inevitably weaker affairs, holding out for increasingly cruder jokes and a weaker sense of the parody that kick-started the franchise in the first place. What really makes Powers work, however, is the double gimmick inherent in the script that allows for ribbing from more than one direction. A film dedicated to entirely Bond franchise gags, or alternatively to hindsight 60’s lifestyle jokes, may drag when stretched over a feature length. Utilising both, this film never has to lean on either one and as a result manages to completely justify its 94-minute running time.
What becomes clear very quickly is Myers’ background in sketch comedy, as he isn’t afraid to drop sketch-like scenes into the movie. When Scott and Dr. Evil attend a father-son counselling session, it comes out of nowhere and has little to do with the main plot; but it’s funny and like a good SNL segment, doesn’t outstay its welcome. Many of the scenes follow this trend though luckily the film never gets lost under the weight of its diversions - repetition and call-back gags still get plenty of play, plus there are some interesting visual jokes that go beyond the realms of traditional scripted comedy.
As for the cast, it’s mostly all about Mike Myers. He plays both hero and villain with typical comic skill and can completely be credited with making the film work so effectively on screen. Elizabeth Hurley may well be the eye-candy sidekick, but she rarely gets an opportunity to do anything more than play the straight role, and is still only adequate doing that. Michael York is a nice choice as the ‘M’ character (knowingly named ‘Basil Exposition’), but like Robert Wagner (henchman ‘Number 2′) and Seth Green (playing Dr Evil’s son, Scott), gets too little screen time to really have a big effect. The remaining players would gain more attention later - especially Seth Green, whose role expands with each film - but for now they are merely background players. Meanwhile, director Jay Roach handles the visual nicely, especially an all-singing, all-dancing introductory sequence that forms one of the very best comic openings of all time.
When it comes right down to it, Austin Powers is a really solid comedy - even if you’ve become tired of the character since it was force-fed to you through its sequels. Thinking back to 1997, before someone wearing a crush velvet suit and spouting catchphrases left and right (”yeah, baby!”) was the most painfully unfunny thing in the world, Austin Powers legitimately captured the imagination of audiences worldwide. I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on Myers and Roach for running their project into the ground later on, since it forms pretty much the pinnacle of each of their careers so far. I don’t hold hope that The Love Guru will ever be able to replicate its success, but given free reign on a brand new character, it’ll be interesting to see exactly what he has come up with. Plus, if it’s the only Myers we’re likely to get for another six years, then I’m willing to give it a chance.
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