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Reviews:

"Austin Powers in Goldmember" is nowhere near as good as the firstflick, but it's better than the second.

But is it funny? Yeah, it is-and New Line has put together a smashing Infinifilmrelease. You can watch the extras separately (which include the usual deletedscenes, making-of sequences and so on), or you can jump to them at key pointsin the film when web-style hyperlinks appear at the bottom of the screen. Clickon them with your remote and you'll see a deleted scene or featurette,and when it's finished, the film starts right back where you left off.Groovy, baby. "Goldmember"-like the skin-eating title characterthat Mike Myers also plays-continues the streak of grosser than gross thatstarted with the previous entry, but features a theme of sorts (familial reconciliation)and sports better supporting players than any of the films so far. Recountingthe plot is hardly worth your time or mine, but here's basically what happens:

1. An over-the-top action sequence complete with over-the-top cameos.
2. Dr. Evil and Mini-Me do a musical number.
3. Goldmember kidnaps Austin Powers' father and takes him to 1975.
4. Austin smells Fat Bastard's undies.
5. Happy ending. Cue Burt Bacharach.

Though Michael Caine is brilliant but underused as Nigel Powers, Austin'sabsentee father, and Beyoncwles is mainly an ocular salve, theyboth nail their parts. However, Myers missed a real opportunity to pull a reversalof the first film's fish-out-of-water story with BeyoncFoxy Cleopatra: just think of all the comedic possibilities of a hipper-than-hipdisco queen sashaying through a retro-obsessed 2002.

"Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" worked because it tooka fish-out-of-water theme and paired it with a merry satire of the swingin'spy genre-unfrozen superspy Austin had to adjust to the realities of lifein the '90s while foiling Dr. Evil's dim-witted plan for global extortion.The supporting parts (notably Elizabeth Hurley's agent Kensington) wererightly played straight, making the disparity between Austin's loss ofhis day-glo past and his current status as the youngest mod in America intoa faucet of hot and cold running gags.

Then came "The Spy Who Shagged Me," and Heather Graham. With the exceptionof any scene involving the hilarity made flesh that is Mini-Me, it was a lazy,recycled affair: all the verve that Myers had put into creating the charactersnow seemed to be focused on weaponizing jokes about poo. Satire had been replacedby pee-pee caa-caa, and the kids drank it like Austin's nutty coffee. Sure,we all got a bit of a buzz from this scatological sequel, but it was missinga theme, and worst of all laziness, it didn't follow its own rules. (Onsecond thought, the worst of all was Ms. Graham-watching her act is likewatching a salmon try to ride a bicycle).

All in all, it's a shame that Myers seems set to milk this character forall the mojo he's worth. He's threatened to make another Powers flick,but it's time to move on. Easily the Peter Sellers of his generation, Myerspassed up a remake of the Pink Panther series because he seems desperately afraidof drawing that very comparison. While remakes are almost as loathsome as sequels,he would've been the perfect man for the job. But it was the correct choice-heknows he needs to do something new. Let's hope he'll hurry up anddo it already.