Fans will be pleased with third 'Austin Powers' film

By Marshall Fine
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER (Rated PG-13 for profanity, partial nudity, vulgar sexual humor, violence) Two and One-Half Stars (Fair-to-Good) This third film about the swinging secret agent has its share of laughs, though not as many as the first two adventures, as Austin goes back in time to rescue his father and, of course, save the planet. Starring Mike Myers, Beyonce Knowles, Michael Caine. Directed by Jay Roach. New Line Cinema, 94 minutes.

Mike Myers' third adventure, "Austin Powers in Goldmember," has a bunch of laughs (though not as many as either of the first two films in this series). But this second sequel to the 1997 hit also spends far too much time setting up a plot that ultimately is beside the point. Hasn't it always been?

This seemingly unstoppable series of secret-agent-film spoofs expands its purview from the 1960s to the 1970s. In this case, Powers is chasing one of Dr. Evil's associates: an odd Dutchman called Goldmember (because he lost his genitals in "a smelting accident" and replaced them with a golden copy), who runs a disco in the mid-1970s. Like Austin, Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard, Goldmember is played by Myers.

The plot, such as it is, deals with Goldmember aiding Dr. Evil's quest to build a tractor beam that can pull a mammoth gold asteroid into a collision with Earth. Once the device is in place, Dr. Evil can hold Earth for ransom.

In the process, Dr. Evil kidnaps Austin's father, Nigel Powers (Michael Caine), who bears an uncanny resemblance to Harry Palmer, the '60s secret agent Caine played in "The Ipcress File," except with worse teeth. (Myers has said that the Harry Palmer films were his inspiration for Austin Powers.)

The fun in "Goldmember" lies in the bottomless capacity by writers Myers and Mike McCullers for raunchy jokes that are both sophomoric and funny. Naming characters Dixie Normous and Fook Mi is only the tip of the iceberg, as it were. They also know how to undermine the conventions of this genre in witty ways, and have fun interpolating references to other films while poking fun at them at the same time.

Myers also obviously loves outrageously violent slapstick (most of which has to do with turning Dr. Evil's pint-sized clone Mini-Me (Verne Troyer) into a tiny punching bag).

Myers has well-developed shtick for each of his personas, but the writing doesn't always support the characters. Goldmember's gags, for example, have to do with his incomprehensible Dutch accent and his surprisingly double-jointed knees. Myers is better off as Dr. Evil (with his bizarre attraction to hip-hop culture) and Fat Bastard (the grossest of the gross), while Austin Powers seems almost normal (and boring) by comparison.

Beyonce Knowles of Destiny's Child plays Foxxy Cleopatra, a 1970s-era agent and love interest with whom Austin reconnects while searching for his father in the past. Meant as a spoof of the kind of characters Pam Grier played in the "70s, she's mostly called upon to talk sassy and flaunt her bushel-sized Afro. Caine, by contrast, obviously gets the joke and has such a good time with it that he lights up the screen.

At this point, "Austin Powers" also has become a vehicle for shameless product placement: beer, cars, cell phones. The brand names pop up in the film so often that one expects the movie to stop for a commercial.

"Austin Powers in Goldmember" is at its best when it is most self-aware, spoofing the conventions of this genre and poking fun at other films. But it slows to a virtual stop when the writers actually try to be serious about the story.

Serious? Austin Powers? Oh, behave.

Rated PG-13 (profanity, partial nudity, vulgar sexual humor, violence).