Film Review: Austin Powers - The Spy who Shagged Me

Okay, so there's another Austin Powers movie out, this time called "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me." Now if you saw the first film, "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery," then you pretty much know what to expect. Superspy Austin Powers squares off against his nemesis Dr. Evil (both played by Mike Myers). Paying homage to James Bond movies and goofy 60s comedy films there are penis jokes and toilet humour aplenty. So if you like this sort of thing (and I do!) then you should know that this sequel delivers the goods, big time. It also reuses every gag that made the first film such a huge success in the video rental market.

While watching "The Spy Who Shagged Me," I thought to myself as I was laughing uncontrollably, okay, they did all these bits in the first movie, okay, I know I shouldn't be laughing, I should be feeling ripped-off. I didn't feel ripped-off. My friend and I laughed nonstop throughout the entire film, from the moment the mock-"Star Wars" opening crawl began. I should add as a caveat that I think we may have been laughing more than most other people in the theater.

The film introduces a couple of new characters, Mini-Me, a diminutive clone of Dr. Evil, and Fat Bastard, an obese, flatulent Scot (also played by Myers) who lends a whole new level of grossness to the series. Apparently the wild success last year of the fairly disgusting but very funny "There's Something About Mary" did not go unnoticed by Myers and his creative partners.

Okay, the plot. In "The Spy Who Shagged Me," Austin time-travels from the 90s back to the 60s in order to retrieve his "mojo," understood to be his "shagadelic" libidinal powers, which have been stolen by Fat Bastard and delivered up to Dr. Evil. Austin's love interest this time around is Felicity Shagwell, played by the always-fabulous Heather Graham. Got all that? That's all you really need to know. Now go see the movie and laugh yourself stupid. If you don't like toilet humour, though, then just skip this and go see Notting Hill or The Phantom Menace instead.

Chris Houlihan

"Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me" opened in Ireland on July 30th

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