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Review by Harvey Karten
3 stars out of 4
Easily the funniest, most imaginative and perhaps the most
lavish and expensive of the Austin Power trilogy, "Austin Powers
in Goldmember" is a frantically-paced series of skits loosely
anchored by the thinnest of plots. Featuring parodies of more
movies than you could squeeze on a notebook page in a dark
theater including "Goldfinger," "The Ipcress File," "The Italian
Job" and even "Singing in the Rain," Jay Roach's collage of
merry mayhem centers on the enormous talents of Michael
Myers who plays four of the most diverse characters as though
they were set apart by but one degree of separation. If you did
not know in advance that the spectacled savior of the world in
his regular nerdy but wholly extroverted persona is also the five
hundred pound character known as Fat Bastard, the billiard-ball
bald Dr. Evil, and the diabolical Dutchman called Goldmember
(because of an accident that gilded his eponymous phallus),
you'd be hard-put to figure that out even if you life depended on
it. There's little doubt that some in the audience who'd not pay
attention to the end credits might even think that Mini Me, the
show-stealing imp played once again by Verne J. Troyes, is just
another Myers incarnation.
Since even the most physical of comedies must have at least
a tissue-thin story around which to base its skits, writers Michael
McCullers and Myers himself have constructed a time-travel tale
concerning the diabolical Goldmember, whose plan to take over
the world involves the kidnapping of Austin's dad, super-spy
Nigel Powers (Michael Caine) who had taught Austin all he
knew about the cloak-and-dagger game and who has a
paternity secret revealed toward the end of the film that bring
the tale to a mock-sentimental conclusion. To get the help of
his foxy ex-girl friend, Powers travels back in time to 1975
where he picks up the Afro-bedecked Foxxy Cleopatra
(Beyonce Knowles) at New York's Studio 69, then moves with
her back to our own 2002 so that together they can rescue
Austin's dad and foil the plans of Goldmember and the ransom-
demanding Dr. Evil who works with a minute alter ego and spit-
and-image, Mini Me (Verne J. Troyes).
Unlike director Jay Roach's 1997 opener subtitled
"International Man of Mystery," "Goldmember" has a lot more
going for it than a one-joke premise and happily Myers does not
overextend the hippy argot "Groovy, Baby" or "Yeah Baby" this
time. Unlike the second in the series, subtitled "The Spy Who
Shagged Me," also directed by Mr. Roach, "Goldmember"
restrains its gross-out gags to a modicum of bathroom humor
and just the right touch of sexual innuendo. Still an original
when compared to other films that rely on physical comedy,
"Austin Powers in Goldmember" has one inventive scene
allegedly occurring outside Tokyo involving the reading of
subtitles, but Roach has a difficult time besting his supremely
entertaining opener that utilizes a bevy of major Hollywood
celebrities in some musical shtick that could have come out of
"42nd Street."
Strangely, MGM had opposed the use of the title
"Goldmember" as an infringement of its own James Bond
possession, "Goldfinger," but what's wrong with a little product
placement to call audience attention to the inimitable Bond
series particularly with the upcoming November release of
"Die Another Day?"
Copyright © 2002 Harvey Karten
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out of 4
