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Review
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Is this supposed to be funny? As I watched Mike Myers try
to make something funny out of anachronisms and bodily
functions, I felt like I used to when I watched Jerry Lewis
movies: what exactly is supposed to be funny about this?
Myers plays top British secret agent, Austin Powers,
cryogenicly frozen in 1967 so he could reappear to deal
with his "arch-nemesis" Dr. Evil when the time came.
Elizabeth Hurley is his lovely assistant, who, of course,
becomes smitten. There is something particularly offensive
about this device. I mean, you could understand why women
would fall for Charlie Chaplin or Peter Sellers or Dudley
Moore, or, heavens!, even Zero Mostel... but Mike Myers,
with those awful teeth and the smarmy jokes? If there are
any bright spots, it is the rather sparse use of 60's music
like Johnny Rivers' classic "Secret Agent Man" and
Strawberry Alarm Clock, and the brief dance "interludes"
between acts, which do have a kind of campy appeal, but the
rest of this movie is sloppy, unfunny, and unimaginative.
When they did have a good idea-- like having a Soviet
Attache as part of the debriefing team after Powers is
revived-- they executed poorly. It would have been much
funnier, for example, if Powers had come across the Soviet
by accident and, assuming he was still a mortal enemy,
strangled him, or something. If you do enjoy the low-brow
humour but don't find AUSTIN POWERS all that funny, try THE
NAKED GUN. Also similar but much funnier: CASINO ROYALE,
with Peter Sellers; BACK TO THE FUTURE, with Michael Fox and
Christopher Lloyd.
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