In 1997's "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery", writer-star Mike Myers was saddled with the task of creating a 90 minute film based on a one-joke Saturday Night Live character. The catch is that the character in question - the randy, clueless secret agent of the title - had never appeared on SNL. Mr. Myers never had the benefit of workshopping the character in that environment to work all the kinks out. Still, Mr. Myers is to be commended for putting together a film that, for the most part, was better and funnier than almost all other films based on full-fledged SNL skits.
Using that earlier film as a sort of a test platform for the character, Mr. Myers is back this summer with "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me", a film which - though it contains almost all the same jokes as the original - is funnier than its predecessor. There is, in reality, only one new joke in the whole film (regarding the description of a phallic rocket ship), the rest are rehashed from 1997's "Powers". But that doesn't matter. Mr. Myers - playing three roles this time, that of Austin, his nemesis Dr. Evil and one of Evil's henchmen, a Scottish Jabba the Hutt-creation named Fat Bastard - is having so much fun that you can't help but laugh with him. There is an element of joy that Mr. Myers brings to every scene that makes it seem as if you're watching him make it up as he goes along just for your amusement.
In fact, Mr. Myers and director Jay Roach have said that some 40% of the film was ad-libbed, and that's not difficult to believe. The jokes fly fast and furious the way the old Zucker-Abrams-Zucker films used to in their heyday. Mr. Myers pulls out all the stops so, of course, some of the jokes hit (Dr. Evil, trapped on a spinning chair, begins chanting "the power of Christ compels you") and some fall flat (Fat Bastard eating chicken naked in bed was more than I needed to see).
The supporting cast is not given too much to do. Rob Lowe pulls out an almost startlingly impressive Robert Wagner imitation; Heather Graham continues to use her beauty as a proxy for actual acting; and Dr. Evil's son Scott (Seth Green) plays out almost exactly the same scenes he had in the original film.
The new "Powers" is less a James Bond spoof than it is a Mike Myers comedy free-for-all. Mr. Myers has wisely chosen to make this Dr. Evil's movie. And he does not disappoint. Whether he's having a sweet office romance with Frau Barbissiner ("It got weird, didn't it.") or cursing a blue streak on Jerry Springer, Dr. Evil has progressed from a one-joke Lorne Michaels impersonation into a full-fledged comic character. Only when the movie gets bogged down in its minimal plot does it begin to show signs of wear. Much like the "Powers" franchise, though, it presses on to its over the top finale.
Can Mike Myers pull another "Powers" film out of thin air and even thinner plotlines? Something tells me that this franchise will not only live twice.
