Austin Powers in Goldmember
Directed by Jay Roach
Starring Mike Myers, Beyoncé Knowles, Michael Caine, Michael York and Verne Troyer
Rated PG-13 for sexual innuendo, crude humor and language

If you remember back a few months ago after the release of Undercover Brother, I suggested that the comedy genre had actually just become films that are spoofs of other genres. And obviously if you are familiar with the Austin Powers movies, you are quite aware that it is a spoof of the spy genre. But the interesting thing about this third installment of the Austin Powers series, Goldmember, is that it is a spoof of the Austin Powers films more than a spoof of the spy genre. Rather than just being aware of the stereotypes and occasional silliness of spy films like those in the James Bond series, this film is aware of the previous Austin Powers movies and makes its jokes from there. While there are some very funny moments in the film, the majority of the film is recycled jokes from the first two Austin Powers movies and a lot of penis and fart jokes, which while occasionally are funny, get boring after a time.

Just like with Malcolm Lee, director of Undercover Brother a few months ago, the director of Goldmember, Jay Roach, is not the important part of the filmmaking process for this film. This film is all about the writing, done once again by the star of the film, Mike Myers. We know at this point that Mike Myers is a very creative comedic writer. He wrote the previous two Austin Powers movies as well as both of the Wayne's World movies and also was a writer on Saturday Night Live for about seven years. But while those films were very funny, Goldmember, just doesn't have it. The beginning of the film,
up until Steven Spielberg makes his cameo, is very funny. But from that point on the humor stalls. And there really isn't any reason for this to happen.Its not like they ran out of material to make fun of. Come this November there will be the release of the 20th Bond film. There had only been 2 Austin Powers movies prior to the release of Goldmember, so it seems unlikely that they could have used up all the material that quickly. And even if they had, there are certainly plently of other spy movies to make fun of. It just seems like Mike Myers knew he was going to make tons of money on this film no matter what he did and so he just didn't put much effort into the writing of it. One of the other big problems is that this film focuses more on Austin Powers. Most fans of the series will tell you that they enjoyed the second installment of the series much more than the first and I feel like the reason for this is that it focuses on the story of Dr. Evil. Dr. Evil just happens to be a much more interesting character than Austin Powers. And focusing on him just makes for a rather dull tale.

The acting isn't much better than the writing. Mike Myers now plays four characters and that is probably three too many at this point. Goldmember was a very lame villain and Fat Bastard just isn't as amusing this time around. There are apparently only so many times that you can laugh at being grossed out. Beyoncé Knowles is no better or worse than any of the previous Powers girls, but she really isn't as important to the story as the others. Michael Caine is pretty good, but his character is not. The same applies to Fred Savage, who I always enjoy seeing, but his character, the Mole with the mole was a joke that got beaten to death in about three seconds in the ads for the movie and thus became much
worse by the time I actually saw the movie. Verne Troyer is a midget and therefore is good no matter what. But really there are only so many jokes you can make about Mini-Me, so I think I could have done without him in this picture. There were also numerous amounts of cameos in this film, some of which were very funny and others which were rather terrible, i.e. Britney Spears and Steven Spielberg.

If you loved the first two movies, you'll probably enjoy selected parts of this film. But if you hated the first two movies, I don't think you should come within 5 feet of any theater its playing in. Based on the way this series had gone previously, this film is quite a disappointment. Its not that is terrible and unfunny, its just very predictable with its jokes and stale. If the series plans to continue on, several changes must be made. First, they have to clear the slate of characters. No more Dr. Evil, Mini-Me, Scott Evil, Fat Bastard, Number Two, and Frau Farbissina. The only characters that should remain are Austin and Basil Exposition. Also they need brand new jokes and they need to make the opening musical numbers more fresh (Maybe they can get Busby Berkeley to do one. Unless he's dead. Which is certainly possible.). And they can call the movie, For Your Thighs Only, Moonshaker, or You Only Shag Twice. The point is, this film was very flat and it needs new life if its going to continue. And I hope it does, because it the potential to be very funny and very entertaining once again.

Rating 47%