Dr. Evil and his clan are by far the funniest part of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me -- if they can't get the Bond people to agree, Mike Myers and company should ditch Austin and spend the rest of the series with the Evils -- Dr., Scott, and Mini Me -- inadvertently triumphing over inept secret agents. And they need a better "Bond girl" -- I usually love Heather Graham, but here she's vacuous and giggly. And better henchmen -- Fat Bastard was just a bad, bad idea from start to finish. But Rob Lowe was great fun, doing a dead-on imitation of Robert Wagner, whose younger self he plays. Isn't it kind of sad that the only roles Lowe can get these days are in these types of movies? He actually was a pretty decent actor at one time.
Anyway, APTSWSM is okay entertainment if you're in a light, not-too-demanding mood, and you can always entertain yourself by trying to catch all the movie references. I like that they strayed from the usual homages to include The Great Santini, Dr. No, and other older films, rather than sticking to the easy (and more likely to feel dated in a few years) ones like Jerry Maguire. Speaking of which, that's one complaint about the South Park movie -- the pop culture references are funny now, but they're not going to hold up well over time.
Back to homepage
Reviews A to F
Reviews G to L
Reviews M to R
Reviews S to Z
Search