Review of OSS 117: Lost in Rio (2009) by Nema P — 26 May 2010

While I cannot get enough of the puns and wacky camera motifs, I'm removing double-one-seven -- I mean, one-seventeen -- from my list of fictional characters I'd like to date. While the film is hilarious and I'd rather see this than any other film in the box office, the ignorance is almost too authentic to be farcical.

Austin Powers was funny because Myers had placed an ignorant spry with all of his antiquated preconceptions from the late1960s and placed him in the socially tolerant context of 1999, where his ideas were incongruous and hilarious.

This film doesn't try to remove its hero from his context, but prove that he is ignorant for his own social context, which is a bit more difficult as a joke. However, there's enough comedy in the language and exploitation of De La Bath's stupidity that the movie can still provide loads of laughter and a rollicking good time.

After the first film's shameless display of homophobic revelation, I was expecting something a little more climactic -- at the end. Yet part of the charm of OSS 117 is the triviality and insipidity of grabbing your gun and handbag, while they're being shot at.

There's something insipid about that, and if you want to enjoy the film you're obliged to find that insipidity endearing. And I do. :-x.