Here's
a film that's grown on me over the years. My initial review of this film
knocked it for being lesser in terms of humor than its two sequels, but in
retrospect, much of the impetus for laughs for The
Spy Who Shagged Me and Goldmember
rely on the gags one remembers from this first entry in the series, so in
truth, this is the best of the three for sheer ingenuity, if not total belly
laughs. That's not to say that it's a great comedy by any means, but it
is often funny and clever, and definitely is worthy of revisiting from time to
time for its contagious silliness that might lift your spirits on those days when
you need a quick pick-me-up.
Austin Powers (Myers, So I Married an Axe Murderer)
is a womanizing hipster British fashion photographer and super-spy from the
late 1960s. His nemesis is the bald, scarred Dr. Evil (also played by
Myers), who escapes Powers' capture by having himself cryogenically frozen and
left to drift in space. Not to be outdone, Powers also puts himself on
ice, pending Dr. Evil's inevitable return. Thirty years later, both are
sprung from their deep sleep, only to find the world a much different place
than the swinging 60s world they left behind. Dr. Evil immediately calls
together the old group in order to resume his plans for world domination, with
a plot to send a nuclear bomb directly into the Earth's core that will cause
all of the world's volcanoes to erupt simultaneously -- that's if Austin
Powers and his new sidekick, Vanessa Kensington (Hurley,
Permanent Midnight), don't get to him
first.
At its core, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
is an amiable spoof of many 1960s spy flicks, most notably the early James
Bond series (Dr. Evil is a direct spoof on the Bond series' Ernst Stavro
Blofeld), plus the Bond knock-offs like Matt Helm, Modesty Blaise, and Derek
Flint. It also dollops a great deal of the European hipster classics like
Blow-Up, A Hard Day's Night, Valley of the Dolls,
The Thomas Crown Affair, and several others, as well as a sampling of
the style from British TV variety shows, including, most notably, "The Benny Hill Show".
Not that you really need to be familiar with any of these things in order
to find them funny, as most of the humor is generated by the sight gags and
sheer absurdity of the characterizations and situations more so than in its
satirization of the dated spy flicks of yesteryear.
The film delivers more than enough solid chuckles to
make it a worthwhile romp for people in the mood for an inherently silly
farce. If does have a higher miss-to-hit ratio than one might recall
when remembering the film after viewing. When the gags come at you with
this amount of frequency, some duds are bound to be in the mix, particularly
since the film is so ambitious in scope that the target audience will most
likely not get several of the jokes. It is, after all, lampooning films
that the vast majority of filmgoers today will be completely unfamiliar with.
Although Man of Mystery looks cute and innocuous from
outward appearances, parents should probably be aware that much of the humor
stems from penis, breast and bathroom function variety. Your
tolerance for this brand of humor will go hand in hand with your overall
enjoyment of the film, so unless you're in tune with Myers' penchant for
incessantly sophomoric gags and double entendres, you're going to be in for a
bit of a shock.
While this first entry has gone on to become a sort of comedy
classic among many, those uninitiated to its unique brand of humor should be
warned that it is very scattershot in delivery, offering a great deal of
energy, color, and irreverence, but Myers and director Jay Roach aren't always
in command, allowing some gags to drag on a bit longer than the punch lines
necessitate. Myers would find his comedic footing to a much more assured degree
in the two sequels to follow, which, if you thoroughly enjoy International
Man of Mystery, are essential viewing for all viewers with juvenile
tastes.
