When I first saw Austin Powers, I didn't know I liked it. Only after a week spent quoting and laughing over various Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery punch lines did I realize what a gem this freaky little flick was. So it was a shock to discover that despite the quirky originality of the first film, there was a way to do it better. The sequel Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me blew up the box-office, making more in it's opening weekend than the original did in it's entire run, the sequel, Austin Powers in The Spy Who Shagged Me is funnier, bolder, and braver than Austin ever was before.
Austin Powers (Mike Meyers) in The Spy Who Shagged Me continues the journey of unfrozen 60's swinger/spy Austin Powers as he shags his way into the 90's to battle evil, out of time and out of sync with our more enlightened, sexually repressed generation. His nemesis, Doctor Evil (Mike Meyers), having failed to destroy Austin with his overly complicated and easily escapable plan from the first film (ill tempered sea bass just don't get the job done) returns to earth in his Rocket Powered big boy to send his evil agents back in time... to steal that from which Austin gains his power... his mojo!
As in the first, the jokes are sharp and Meyers indomitable sense of timing spot on. But in my mind, what really separates it, and elevates it above the original, and just about any other comedy to date, is Meyers decision to take some of the focus off the "fish out of water" swinging Austin to throw Doctor Evil a freakin bone. More Evil. More Evil henchmen. More Mike Meyers. And he sells it... oh god he sells it.
Oh I could sit back and be a snob and pick this flick apart as juvenile or simply scatological... but what's the point? Funny is funny and Austin Powers 2 delivers more laughs to this critic than any film to date. Don't frickin analyze it! Watch! Laugh. It's not an art film... though it is undeniably comedic art.
With a cast of characters including an obese, baby eating Scotsman, a mini Doctor Evil named "mini-me", and anything else Meyers can throw in to poke fun and the tired world of spy flicks, or pop-culture in general, The Spy Who Shagged Me rules the comedy genre, and elevates Meyers to that Monty Python/John Cleese realm of comedic demi-god.
