AUSTIN POWERS
SYNOPSIS:
Back in 1967, buck-toothed, crushed- velvet wearing, mop-topped
Austin Powers (Mike Myers) worked as a swingin' fashion
photographer by day and a groovy super agent for a British spy
organisation the rest of the time. When not working, his primary
interest was in 'shagging' every pretty girl he could get his
hands on. His chief nemesis was the bald-pated, cat-loving,
megalomaniac Dr. Evil. Just before Powers catches him once and
for all, Dr. Evil has himself placed in a cryogenic capsule and
blasted into space. Not wanting to be outdone, Powers volunteers
to have himself frozen too. Thirty years pass and Dr Evil returns
to London to continue his wicked schemes for world domination.
Powers' is promptly thawed him out, too and set up with gorgeous
but morally conservative Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley),
the daughter of his former partner. Their mission is to stop Dr
Evil. Powers and Evil attempt to resume business as usual, but
times have dramatically changed and both psychedelic dinosaurs
find themselves hilariously struggling to adapt.
"Bursting with deliciously nasty villains, beautiful
women, intriguing gismos, a touch of humour and lots of action,
the James Bond thrillers of the sixties were the coolest. Their
popularity spawned a number of tongue-in-cheek B movie and
television imitators including the Matt Helm films, Our Man
Flint, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Written by and starring
Saturday Night Live alumnus Mike Myers in a dual role, Austin
Powers is primarily a parody of those secondary spy thrillers
with the added zest of spoofing '60s pop culture. And the film is
fun - for maybe half its running time. You see, even the Bond
films ultimately emerged as self-parodies, and many of the films
Powers spoofs, were themselves parodies, so what you have, then,
is a film that pokes fun at itself in more ways than one. Myers
is a clever comic but his schtick is repetitious and tiresome;
Hurley looks gorgeous, but like all those Bond women before her,
has little to do but appear decorative in an occasionally amusing
way. Austin Powers pokes fun at many a film, though unless you're
a Bond devotee, you may not pick up on which film. There are some
delightful moments, and the music gives the movie a playful edge,
but one wonders why on earth a parody of sixties pop culture is
needed, when the sixties themselves remain a quintessential
parody of a world trying to take itself too seriously."
Paul Fischer
"Bubblegum for the brain, Austin Powers is a hoot of a
film which doesn’t pretend to be anything else. Ridiculously
absurd and over the top with loads of colour, both in terms of
esthetics and colourful characters, the film tries a little too
hard to be funny. Cute idea, but perhaps not enough to sustain
the whole film. We’re talking about body hair, bad teeth,
‘shagging’, and everything’s ‘groooovy,
bay-bee’. All this, with lashings of Burt Bacharach, Bond
parodies and toilet humour of all kinds. True, there are some
amusing moments, but mostly they are diluted by over-kill. Number
Two and his evil but well endowed assistant Alotta Fagina should
be the butt of one lusty joke or two, but no-one seems to have
told Mike Myers that the joke dies when thrashed to death. But
this aside, Austin Powers is for the RNLS (Ridiculous Nonsense
Laugh Seekers). Enigmatic and stunning in the looks department,
Liz Hurley makes a decorative foil for our anti-hero, while the
transformation of Dr Evil’s persian chinchilla to that of a
hair-less sphynx cat in the freezing process is a nice touch.
Watch out for a few unheralded star cameos. They come as a
welcome surprise."
Louise Keller
"Look, I might have been in an unamusable mood, but
Austin Powers struck me as more silly than funny, although I do
appreciate some of its whacky, double-whammy comedy. Plenty of
toilet humour and ‘rude word’ play infests the film,
and nothing is taken seriously. The problem with this approach is
that it limits your margins for error: if no character is taken
seriously and the plot is a joke, all that is left to reach the
audience is the comedy. If that is at all weak, you are dead. I
regret to say the film died for me: but there were plenty in the
audience at the preview screening who rolled about with
laughter. Perhaps the biggest problem of all, for me, was Mike
Myer’ central character, the bucktoothed idiot: there is no
heritage of 60s film heroes in that mould around the subject this is
attempting to spoof. Goodness, even Maxwell Smart had a passable
physicality."
Andrew L. Urban
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AUSTIN POWERS (M) 15+
(US)
CAST: Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York, Mimi Rogers, Robert Wagner
DIRECTOR: Jay Roach
PRODUCER: Suzanne Todd, Demi Moore, Jennifer Todd, Mike Myers
SCRIPT: Mike Myers
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Deming
EDITOR: Debra Neil-Fisher
MUSIC: George S. Clinton
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Cynthia Charette
RUNNING TIME: 95 minutes
AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR: Roadshow
AUSTRALIAN RELEASE: August 21, 1997
AUSTRALIAN VIDEO DISTRIBUTOR: Roadshow Entertainment
AUSTRALIAN VIDEO RELEASE: February 24, 1998
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