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| Directed by Jay Roach; Starring Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York, Mimi Rogers, Robert Wagner, and Seth Green |
Once upon a time, I wrote about the worst thing in all of Hollywood, the scariest virus, is a Saturday Night Live alumni film. But Mike Myers, of Wayne’s World fame, has proven that idea wrong for the time being. Not only is Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery a good film, it is also an extremely funny film. In fact, I’m going on a limb with this, but I would say that this is probably the second funniest film of this year (I’m very enthused over the fall release of Rowan Atkinson’s Dr. Bean). Austin Powers is a perfect blend of James Bond movies, the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night, and another British film called Blowup.
In this, Myers plays Austin Powers, a groovy sixties swinging British super spy, who is cryogenically frozen in case of the return of his arch nemesis, Dr. Evil (also Myers; a complete carbon copy of Donald Pleasance as Ernst Stravo Blofeld in the Bond film You Only Live Twice) with his cat, estranged son, and group of henchmen (including the hilarious Random Task, who like Odd Job’s hat in Goldfinger, Task throws his shoes). Along to help is a young British agent (Hurley) who Austin is sure is madly in love with him, so he sets out to “Shag her, Baby!” Meanwhile, Dr. Evil and his son desperately try to learn to bond. All this happens while Dr. Evil plans the use of his giant drill to make a big hole into the earth’s crust, producing an unstoppable volcano.
Now all we have to do is wait for a funny Chris Farley or Adam Sandler film. Even if only in our dreams.
