Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Director:

Jay Roach

Writers (WGA):

Mike Myers (written by) &
Michael McCullers (written by) ...

Release Date:

11 June 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime

Tagline:

First, he fought for the Crown. Now he's fighting for the Family Jewels.

Plot:

Dr. Evil is back...and has invented a new time machine that allows him to go back to the 60's and steal Austin Powers's mojo, inadvertently leaving him "shagless".

Plot Keywords:

Moon | Time Machine | Clone | Laser | Gun

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 16 wins & 26 nominations

Cast

Mike Myers	...	Austin Powers / Dr. Evil / Fat Bastard
Heather Graham	...	Felicity Shagwell
Michael York	...	Basil Exposition
Robert Wagner	...	Number Two
Rob Lowe	...	Young Number Two
Seth Green	...	Scott Evil
Mindy Sterling	...	Frau Farbissina
Verne Troyer	...	Mini-Me (as Verne J. Troyer)
Elizabeth Hurley	...	Vanessa
Gia Carides	...	Robin Swallows
Oliver Muirhead	...	British Colonel
George Cheung	...	Chinese Teacher (as George Kee Cheung)
Jeffrey Meng	...	Chinese Student
Muse Watson	...	Klansman
Scott Cooper	...	Klansman's Son - Bobby

Also Known As:

Austin Powers 2 (USA) (working title)
Austin Powers 2: It's Shagging Time (USA) (working title)
Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me (USA) (video title)
It's Shagging Time (USA) (working title)
The Return of Dr. Evil (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual innuendo and crude humor.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX | SDDS | DTS-ES

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Iceland:12 | Canada:G (Quebec) | Netherlands:6 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Malaysia:(Banned) | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 (NO. 36759) | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

Dr. Evil calls one of his creations "The Alan Parsons Project", spoofing the name of a band The Alan Parsons Project that enjoyed popularity during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Coincidentally, 1999 was also the year Alan Parsons released his album "The Time Machine", and a remix of the title track includes snippets of Dr. Evil's dialogue from the movie.

Goofs:

Continuity: The positioning of the globe and the laser on the moon when Dr. Evil is explaining the "giant laser" phase of his plan.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery, was frozen in 1967 and defrosted in the Nineties to battle his nemesis, Dr. Evil. After foiling his archenemy's plan to send a nuclear warhead to the center of the earth, Austin banished Dr. Evil to the cold recesses of space and settled down with his new wife, Vanessa, to live happily ever after. Or so he thought...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Seed of Chucky (2004)

Soundtrack:

Get The Girl

Slightly better than the first

I believe that the general consensus is that the first Austin Powers movie is the best of the bunch. I happen to disagree (as you can probably tell from my one-line-summary). I feel that the second film actually improves on the first film by adding a few new characters and generally cutting loose on the humor making it even more bizarre and funny than in the first film. I don't expect people to agree but at least hear me out as to why I think the second film is better.

As I said a few new characters have been added to the roster and we get to see some older characters in new and exiting ways. The best addition to the character rooster is Mini-Me, Doctor Evil's clone, played brilliantly by Verne Troyer. Not only is he hilariously funny but he also brings out a different side to Doctor Evil which I found to be extremely funny. On a related note I found Doctor Evil to be much more interesting as a character in the second film than in the first. Probably because the Austin character had to be established in the first film. Second there is the addition of Fat Bastard, played by Myers himself. A lot of people have responded negatively to Fat Bastard but I found him quite funny in a very weird way. Mike Myers definitely took a step up the weird ladder when he came up with him. Elizabeth Hurley is written out of the script very early in the film and instead Heather Graham is introduced as Felicity Shagwell. Heather Graham is not as strong as Hurley was as Austin's love interest but she remains nice as eye-candy and what can you expect more than that. Seth Green pretty much reprises his role from the first film. Nothing much to come after there. The supporting cast is pretty much the same as in the first film except this time we get to see Number Two in a young version played by Rob Lowe who does an uncanny imitation of Robert Wagner. Mindy Sterling and Michael York returns in their respective parts as well. There are also quite a few cameos in the film. Including Tim Robbins, Woody Harrelson, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and many more.

The film still spoofs Bond obviously and the title in itself is of course a reference to The Spy Who Loved Me and once again I find that no-one does it better than Myers. After the success of the first I think they gave Myers free reigns because a lot of the stuff in this film is pretty far out. An example could be the hilarious fight between Austin and Mini-Me and an equally funny scene in a tent. I won't reveal any more than that. Another thing is that the overall effects seem much more polished this time around which is probably also caused by the success of the previous film.

The story is pretty much non-existent which I found to be an improvement over the previous film which actually attempted to incorporate a story rather than just be all out fun.

All in all I think it is a matter of taste. Either you prefer the first or you prefer the second but you should definitely give this film a try just for the heck of it.

All in all

7/10