Flak Magazine: Review of The Spy Who Shagged Me, 6-14-99

At times, The Spy Who Shagged Me makes you sit back and say: "Mike Myers is one funny man." But in its worst moments, all the chest hair in the world can't disguise the fact that he's still the guy who made Wayne's World 2.

The new film--which he wrote, produced, and starred in three times over-- showcases his comic timing, sense of the absurd and a few choice sight gags. He has an uncanny ability to feed on MTV junk culture and spit out something fresher, funnier. That's what made audiences sit up and say "Yeah, baby," after Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery.

From the start, the sequel is totally driven by the awareness that Austin Powers has become a pop culture institution (or at least a temporary exhibit) in its own right. The film goes over the top with derivative references. Cultural juxtapositions and irony are half the joke in the concept of a cryogenically-preserved '60s superhero, but the sequel turns our swinging protagonist into an outright whore to commerce. If the opening Jerry Springer homage doesn't tell you the score, Dr. Evil's Starbucks headquarters will.

As sequels go, the outlook for this one was promising. Powers grew on us, and Myers has enough imagination to give him longevity. However, the second dose of Austin Powers is less funny because he has the burden of being liked. He's still likable, but he'll never be outrageous again. Sorry, old man-it's just the routinization of charisma. And over-exposure of your catchphrases.

His chick got duller, too. Heather Graham plays Felicity Shagwell. For a secret agent babe, she's awfully blond and wholesome. Is she hiding her lethal cunning beneath a crack Alicia Silverstone impression?

At the risk of taking this movie way too seriously, Myers made a miscalculation in the plot. Dr. Evil travels back in time to render the hero impotent (literally). So Powers gives up swinging to get in touch with the emotional roots of his masculinity. Hmmm. The appropriate secret weapon here would be: Viagra.

Luckily, Meyers redeems himself as Dr. Evil. Forget Austin's mojo; the myopic megalomaniac steals the film. His quirks and delusions keep their charm long after Austin Powers goes soft (pun intended, but I'm not proud of that…). In Dr. Evil's too-brief scenes with Tim Robbins as the president, the film achieves sci-fi camp with a Dr. Strangelove flavor. He also has an itty-bitty, biting side-kick, Mini-Me, to engage Scott Evil in sibling rivalry. Seth Green (Oz, to Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans) returns as the deliciously deadpan/dysfunctional character who is so jaded he refuses to suspend disbelief in his own film.

Scott helpfully deconstructs half-assed plot devices, but he still misses plenty. For every original laugh, a cheap fart gag threatens to return the spectre of Wayne's World 2 to cultural memory. Characters address the camera to discuss the plot. They make in-jokes about an obscure new wave band. Then there is the morbidly-obese Scottish character named Fat Bastard. Also played by Myers, he seems to be refugee from the Land of Bad Saturday Night Live Concepts. For a moment, I thought they had perfected Smell-O-Vision, but then I realized that the baby-eating thug is just repulsive enough to make me gag.

— Megan Christensen (mmc3e4 at mizzou dot edu)