Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

The movie started off great with an hilariously OTT psychedelic dance number, but steadily went down hill from there. The character of Austin Powers was certainly a very funny creation, but that was all this spy spoof offered. The jokes were predominantly predictable toilet humour. By the end I just wasn't laughing. A huge disappointment after the hilarious beginning.

Myers is at his best as Austin and provides us with some wonderful sound bites. He's less successful however with the somewhat tiresome villain Dr Evil. Hurley is a good foil as the sexy sidekick Miss Kensington.

Spoofs are most effective when played deadpan where the characters seem to be acting normal and unaware of the lunacy around them. See the Airplane! and Hot Shots series for examples of this. Myers however is plainly having a lot of fun, which strangely leads to less fun for the viewer (e.g his never ending "do you think I'm sexy" scenes).

Fmovies: When he made Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery Mike Myers aspired to comic greatness, the kind we had not seen on the screen since Peter Sellers. Only Sellers and Alec Guinness could create so many believable characters in the same film and make them work the way Myers does with Austin Powers and his perennial nemesis Doctor Evil.

Hard to believe, but back in the swinging London of the Sixties, the British kids really did dress like Austin Powers. The key to Powers character is that whether he's in the Sixties or the Nineties, he's still an overgrown kid.

The film is like the old Batman TV series where the Gotham City Police Department is good enough at dealing with ordinary criminals. But when exotic types like the Joker or the Penguin threaten the law and order of Gotham City, Commissioner Gordon reaches for the Batphone and Adam West and Burt Ward start doing their thing in tights.

Powers is on the verge of nabbing Doctor Evil back in the day when the doctor takes off in a rocketship and cryogenically freezes himself. It's also some rocketship if I do say so. Not to be outdone, British Intelligence cryogenically freezes Austin Powers because he's the only man capable of dealing with Evil in their service.

Both men have to adapt to a culture shock. Doctor Evil has mixed feelings about the test tube baby son he fathered in Seth Green. As for Powers, he's not quite fathoming the fact that his Emma Peel like partner Mimi Rogers from back in the day has a daughter in Elizabeth Hurley doing her bit in the family spy business.

Michael York as the M character and Powers boss and Robert Wagner as Number 2 in the Evil Empire both look like they're having a really good time hamming up their parts. There's also a nice unbilled part by Tom Arnold as a cowboy in the men's room with Powers when one of the Evil assassins tries to get him.

A lot of good laughs in this first Austin Powers film, I do so hope Mike Myers does make still another one.

Yeah, it's dumb, yeah it's goofy, but it knows it. Almost everyone in this movie is self-aware of the kind of tropes it is making fun of. It drags out its humor, to a degree that is almost irritating, but it works. It works because of the meta-humor, because of the acknowledgment of the insanity. That makes it that much more fun to watch and hilarious. It's pure laughs and clever writing all through.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery fmovies. In the 1960's Austin Powers is one of the UK's best secret agents. He works as an international playboy who also fights international terrorists. However when Dr Evil tries fails to kill him, Dr Evil escapes into space where he is frozen until a time when he can return. Austin Powers also freezes himself to be defrosted later. In the late 90's Dr Evil returns to wreck havoc on the world and only a defrosted Powers can stop him – if he can adapt to the new world order. Mike Myers is very much an acquired taste but he did seem to hit it big with this series of films. The original film set the tone with not very basic jokes but certainly plenty of crude ones. The main film is split between a fish out of water film, with Austin trying to come to terms with the 90's, and also a James Bond spoof with Dr Evil as a more frustrated Bond baddie (complete with cat and bald head). The fish out of water stuff works well as Austin is a funny swinger and the 60's stuff is cool, however the best bits for me all relate to Dr Evil – whether it be his relationship with his son or the asides where the see the consequences of the death of his henchmen. The spoof on Bond movies gets the best laughs from me. Myers is good in both roles and clearly has fun with both. Hurley is OK but a bit wooden as Vanessa while Robert Wagner is good as number one. Michael York (whoooooo?) is good as control and there are some good cameos – Rob Lowe is funny but I still don't understand why the whole Christian Slater bit was put in the final cut?! Overall it may be rude and slightly crude in places but there's still plenty to enjoy. It's 90 minutes long but it's very funny and rushes by. You may not remember much of the plot but at least you go away chuckling.

This is really a funny parody of the Bond movies. This is the best thing to watch if you've seen a typical by-the-numbers Bond movie, one of the old ones, for example, and thought it was ridiculous, or at the very least something other than great. The plot is directly spoofing the old Bond movies, with an evil villain trying to take over the world. The acting is pretty good, for a spoof movie; the characters are mostly caricatures and stereotypes, to further parody the Bond movies, but they add to the humor of the film. Mike Myers is great in this movie, pretty much anyone who likes him will probably enjoy him in this. I loved how it was spoofing the Bond movies, sometimes even mentioning the ludicrousness of the characters actions in details. If you're into 60's stereotypes, crude sexual humor and some great Bond-spoof action, you'll most likely enjoy this. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys spoof movies, and who's seen at least one Bond movie and thought it was a bit ridiculous. It's filled to the brink with crude sexual innuendo and Bond-spoofing. 8/10

When I saw "Austin Powers", I was on the floor laughing. This movie has every single memorable line you could possibly imagine. From "Yeah, baby!" to "Riiiiiight", Mike Myers is a genius when it comes to comedy! I think everyone could say that they laughed at least once to this film.

Paroding of the James Bond flicks, Austin Powers is an international spy who is a lady's man. Dr. Evil, is Arch Nemesis, goes into the future of 1997 and now Austin must travel through time to find him. When he gets to 1997, he has a beautiful assistant, Vanessa, who happens to be the daughter of his former flame in the 60's. Vanessa resists Austin's charm and wants to stick to business while Austin is wasting no time to get to his "business" with her. Dr. Evil learns that he has a son, Scott played by Seth Green. When Scott isn't as excited to have Dr. Evil as a father, Dr. Evil tries anything he can to get Scott to love him, including a hilarious scene in a counseling group for father's and son's. But back into action, Austin must find Dr. Evil before he rules the world with his kitty, Mr. Bigglesworth. But can he do that and have Vanessa at the same time?

You'll just have to see! My favorite characters that worked so well together was without a doubt Seth and Mike as Dr. Evil and Scott. They are just beyond hilarious and work so well together. I think a lot of the other Austin Powers fans would agree. There first scene together meeting is just really funny, "Give Daddy a hug! I'm down with the kids, ducka ducka ducka!" "No! Get away from me you psycho!". Classic! Like I said "Austin Powers" is just a great and funny movie that I think you can get into if you're looking for a decent comedy. Come on! We still say "Yeah, baby!" to this very day after all! Let's give Mike some credit here!

8/10