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22 December 2023
Austin Powers: Goldmember has everyone’s favorite modern-day-‘60s swinger time-traveling back to the ‘70s to stop a new villain named Goldmember. Most of the franchise regulars return (Mike Myers, Seth Green, Robert Wagner, Verne Troyer, and Michael York), along with new faces Michael Caine and Beyonce Knowles. Knowles does a fine job as Foxxy Cleopatra, Austin’s new love interest, cracking more jokes in 30 minutes than Undercover Brother could do in a full two hours. The film starts with a hilarious, cameo-laced Mission Impossible: 2, John Woo-style opening, which actually sets the bar too high for the rest of the film. Don’t get me wrong: Goldmember has many funny scenes, a few of which had me laughing out loud. (If there is anything funnier than watching midgets get thrown into walls and used as battering rams, I don’t want to know about it.) Here’s what Goldmember really needed to make it better:
1. More of Scott Evil - He finally starts to live up to his last name, but never quite gets the chance to shine.
2. Less of Goldmember - He just kept doing the same two jokes over and over.
It seems strange to me to name the movie after the worst character in the film.
The film delves deeper into the “strained relationship between fathers and sons” storyline by introducing Austin’s father (Michael Caine), who was never around to support his son, and Dr. Evil’s upbringing as an orphan. Can you figure out the plot twist yet? A flashback scene of Austin and Dr. Evil in school is a nice little touch that brings to mind Smallville’s pairing of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor as childhood friends. The nicest thing about this movie is that they seem to have dropped most of the old jokes that they beat to death in the last two films. That, and director Jay Roach has finally learned how to get in and out of a scene without letting it drag on like a bad Saturday Night Live skit. So, if you enjoyed the last two excursions of Austin Powers, you’ll enjoy this one. If you’re only a casual Powers fan, Goldmember is a dollar theater or wait-for-video movie only.
1. More of Scott Evil - He finally starts to live up to his last name, but never quite gets the chance to shine.
2. Less of Goldmember - He just kept doing the same two jokes over and over.
It seems strange to me to name the movie after the worst character in the film.
The film delves deeper into the “strained relationship between fathers and sons” storyline by introducing Austin’s father (Michael Caine), who was never around to support his son, and Dr. Evil’s upbringing as an orphan. Can you figure out the plot twist yet? A flashback scene of Austin and Dr. Evil in school is a nice little touch that brings to mind Smallville’s pairing of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor as childhood friends. The nicest thing about this movie is that they seem to have dropped most of the old jokes that they beat to death in the last two films. That, and director Jay Roach has finally learned how to get in and out of a scene without letting it drag on like a bad Saturday Night Live skit. So, if you enjoyed the last two excursions of Austin Powers, you’ll enjoy this one. If you’re only a casual Powers fan, Goldmember is a dollar theater or wait-for-video movie only.
artid
809
Old Image
4_11_powers.swf
issue
vol 4 - issue 11 (aug 2002)
section
entertainmental