Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery was released in 1997 under the premise of sucking all the elements from a super-spy movie and making fun of them throughout. It grew on audiences and cashed in a lot of money. Nowadays, no one can mention the suave and shagadelic agent without yelling such catch phrases as "Groovy, baby!" or "Yeah, baby, yeah!" Or perhaps they just can't go without uttering lines from Austin's archnemesis Dr. Evil, such as the "Shhh!" attack, or "Throw me a frickin' bone, here!" Two years later, the next entry in the saga, The Spy Who Shagged Me, also shattered the box office, but perhaps wasn't as well received because of its tendency to resort to poo-poo, wee-wee jokes. However, it is remembered as a hilarious romp in the eyes of many. It's been three more years, and who could go another without more Austin Powers action? Not I, that's for sure, and I'm sure others in its loyal audience worldwide would agree as well. Goldmember has hit the big time.
The story goes thus: Dr. Evil and his 1/8-his-size clone are caught by Austin and convicted of their crimes. However, in the 70's, Austin's less-than-caring father Nigel Powers has been captured by the likes of the foreign crime boss "Goldmember" (named for a certain 24-karot appendage and his Midas touch to the same matter), and Austin, in exchange for the information that will liberate his father, transfers Dr. Evil to a common prison, where Mini-Me awaits. While Austin frees his father and meets up with an old flame known as Foxxy Cleopatra, Dr. Evil and Mini-Me escape from prison and team up with Goldmember in order to take the world ransom once again. Unless Austin and Nigel can resolve their father-son differences in the span of a two-hour movie, the world is sunk for good. Can they? Will they? Of course they will; this is a comedy movie. Could you really expect anything complex from the Powers universe? However, many more challenges lie ahead for the two, as well as a fair set for the dark side of our story.
Yes, I understand that Goldmember has received its share of good and bad reviews. But that's understandable. In the limited amount of logic left in my brain, I have speculated what the problem might be. On one side lie the folks expecting the line to deliver its premise to them; the spoof-o-rama that the first film introduced. International Man of Mystery worked in much subtler ways, and took full control of what it had. However, The Spy Who Shagged Me and Goldmember take their share of laughs towards the way of gross-outs, puns, one-liners, wacky situations, and genitalia impersonation. The people who enjoy this kind of stuff lie on the other side of the division. I'm sorry to say this to the people expecting the spy lampooning to run rampant, but the second division makes up the whole of the United States. Come on, everybody! Common man loves common comedy!
I whole-heartedly enjoyed Goldmember. The laughs, while dry in some areas (including a rehash of the "sex organ space equipment" gag, which I cringed at), deliver it on nice and thick. The acting can't be graded on integrity and such things that would apply to a serious film, so I've got to go on how funny the actors were. They gave their expected all, and the cast definitely managed to get me guffawing all throughout the film. The movie does have its flaws, such as the title character Goldmember, who was less laugh inducing and more...amusing, shall I say. The flake-eating mineral-monger felt like nothing more than a pivot character in the film, and while Mike Myers tries his best to give the character a jolt in design, Goldmember is probably not going to return in Austin Powers' line of evil.
Other than that, the characters, script, laughs, and plot are enough to please even the most hardened of comedic hearts, and while the recurring comedy that the Austin Powers movies employ can't be played on for long, the spy definitely has a movie that just can't disappoint. Yeah, baby, yeah! |
