Review of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) by Kai82 — 17 Mar 2021

To be fair the enjoyment fully depends if you like this kind of humor. It can cover the full range from 1/10 to 10/10 but I will say it is to carefully made to be rated lower than a 4/10 even if you dislike the humor.

It is a parody of James Bond and Mike Myers humor unleashed. It delivers for me with the humor. It has all sorts from clever jokes, satire, toilet humor up to some really dirty jokes. Most of the jokes work but there are some awkward once too.

Would say 80% work and 20% fail for me if I had to do the numbers. The story starts in the swinging sixties. The world class spy (and style icon;-) Austin Powers foils an assassination attempt by his evil antagonist Dr.

Evil who then escapes to space and freezes himself. Austin Powers has no other choice as to be placed also in cryostasis and wait for the return of his nemesis. 30 years later their duel continues. Like I already said it is a parody of all James Bond tropes and cliches.

It archives to be respectful to the sources but also not holding back on the humor side. I repeat Mike Myers humor here is not everyone's taste but he convinced many people with this movie. The acting is great for this sort of movie.

Lets start with Mike Myers (actually Michael John Myers) in his role as Austin (Danger;-) Powers and Dr. Evil. You fully feel the fun and enjoyment he had and this make the movie really good. It helps that he was also the writer and one of the producers so he can fully develop his ideas.

Elizabeth Hurley as Vanessa Kensington does a remarkable job. She is such a good alternative or parody to the Bond girls. For the rest I liked Seth Green as Scott Evil, Robert Wagner as Number 2 (Has he a real name in the franchise?) and of cause Mindy Lee Stirling as Mrs Farbissina who steals the show with her performance.

Special praise to Will Ferell as Mustafa for his awesome scene (You will know which I mean). Visually the movie fully delivers. The wanted a specific style and got it right. The soundtrack is great but not my cup of tea so I will exclude it from my rating.

On the negative side I already said that 20% of the jokes dont work for me and the start of the movie is a bit slow. Other than that I think there are no memorable missteps. Overall this is a great parody for James Bond movies.

It is entertaining enough that I recommend it if you like this kind of humor.