Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Directed by Jay Roach, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me follows Mike Myers’ Austin Powers as he’s forced to return to the 1960s after Dr. Evil (Myers) steals his mojo. Filmmaker Roach, armed with a script by Myers and Michael McCullers, delivers an often relentlessly hit-and-miss sequel that rarely, if ever, achieves the highs of its near-flawless predecessor, which is a shame, ultimately, given that the movie does possess a number of appealing and genuinely hilarious elements and digressions – with virtually everything involving new character Fat Bastard (Myers) ranking high atop the movie’s short list of agreeable elements. It’s clear, however, that Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me has been infused with an erratic and often egregiously over-the-top sensibility that contributes heavily to its erratic atmosphere, as Roach has flooded the proceedings with a whole host of underwhelming attributes that cumulatively prevent the viewer from wholeheartedly embracing the thin narrative. (This is especially true of the tedious musical numbers, ultimately.) There is, as such, little doubt that the picture fizzles out considerably once it arrives at its anticlimactic (and needlessly protracted) third act, and although the agreeable, enthusiastic performances generally smooth over the movie’s less-than-successful aspects, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me does, in the final analysis, come off as a barely-passable followup that could (and should) be so much better.

**1/2 out of ****