Austin Powers 3: Goldmember
Review
by : Matt McConnel
Starring:
Mike Myers, Beyonce Knowles, Vern Troyer,
Michael Caine
Directed by: Jay Roach
| Rating: |
for gags  for
actual content |
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The third installment of the Powers franchise brings gags,
laughs, and some innovation. But little else is on the plate.
Here is my advice: grab a friend (willing one please), grab
a matinee show, and then speak of this no more. Goldmember
is one of those guilty pleasures, and the film makers know
that; they use it to their advantage in making fun of themselves,
the spy genre, and things in general. With boatloads of cameos
well placed throughout, the third episode in the Austin Powers
series is better than the second, and maybe even funnier,
if less original than the first.
The fun is mostly at themselves, drawing on stock in franchise
jokes established in the first two movies. There flashes of
absolute inspiration however, the first third of the movie
are worth while in and of itself, and the character of Goldmember
is not overused as Fat Bastard and Dr. Evil were in the The
Spy Who Shagged Me. The climax is hardly spectacular, though
it does give Seth Green a lot more to work with than the last
outing.
The makeup is great, as before, and the actors are certainly
more in their elements. Dr. Evil still annoys me however;
the entire prison scene is pointless up until the escape which
is actually a funny moment when I had expected Myers to break
down back in to the pot of cheese that he sloshes out from
on occasion. Heaven help me for what I say now, but Beyonce
Knowles is actually a reasonable addition to the cast. Sexy
eye candy she is indeed, no matter what I might think of her
otherwise. Michael Cain kicks all sorts of ass in an underwritten
cliché part, and then there are the cameos that are just too
damn funny to describe.
Believe it or not, this movie is worth seeing for those of
us devotees to the spy genre, and maybe even for the plebian
masses. I can't say this was a good movie, or even a terribly
entertaining one. It is really a series of gags loosely strung
together, some of which have no purpose to the story. But
damn, it is funny. Four on gags (some quite literally, you're
gagging like you are trying to deep throat a beer bottle),
and one and a half on actual content.
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