Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery

Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery

In the first few minutes of “Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery,” the British superspy is just about to win his battle with arch-nemesis Dr. Evil. But Evil slips away by jumping into a rocket shaped like Bob’s Big Boy and blasting off into space where, as we will learn later, he plans to bide his time in cryogenic storage until he can take over the world again. So Austin has himself put on ice, too; when the bad doctor returns in 1997, our man is thawed.

That’s it for narrative simplicity in “Austin Powers,” a funny movie that gets funnier as you recognize more references to James Bond movies, Bond clones and other ’60s films than any reasonable person could be expected to count. The joke here is that both Powers and Dr. Evil are products of the ’60s themselves; it’s just that they’ve been cryogenically frozen there ever since.

Both parts are played by Mike Myers, who has the same delight-in-getting-away-with-something spirit that was so infectious in “Wayne’s World.” As Powers, he’s sex-mad trying to seduce agent Elizabeth Hurley (a very liberated feminist British secret agent) with such ’90s-flavored lines as “groovy,” “trendy” and “with-it.”

He does his own thing: In an opening homage to Russ Meyer’s immortal “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls,” he throws a party and shouts, “This is my happening and it freaks me out!” Dr. Evil is similarly era-challenged: With a bald head and sneer that make him look like nothing so much as some pre-Connery Bond villain turned lounge lizard, he pushes buttons which send underlings plunging through trapdoors into an incinerator pit. But he just doesn’t get it anymore.

For one thing, it seems that during his frozen decades his operation has gone legitimate under the management of No. 2 (Robert Wagner); international blackmail is no longer seen as a profit center. (At one point Dr. Evil suggests a scheme involving a million-dollar ransom demand; his board members chuckle as they explain how far a million won’t go these days.)

The modern world is not kind to these men out of time. Dr. Evil discovers he has a son named Scott Evil (Seth Green), who resents him for spending all those years in space when he could have been home being a father. They end up at a 12-step meeting for dysfunctional families.

The movie sticks to its theme: James Bond meets Political Correctness. Much comedy stems from Hurley, whose Vanessa Kensington responds to Austin’s seduction techniques as if he were an insect that needed squashing although one of the funniest scenes in the movie occurs when Austin frolics nude through their hotel suite; through ingeniously deceptive choreography, the camera is always behind an object or piece of furniture which hides Austin’s private parts from us while we discover that the British don’t call their breakfast sausages “bangers” for nothing.

Co-written by Myers and directed by Jay Roach, the film is intelligent enough to know that the 60s are funny without being overblown. For example, in one scene a fashion photographer takes pictures of ‘60s fashions and the clothes which look like outrageous science-fiction fantasies are actually identical to costumes worn during posing sessions in Antonioni’s “Blow Up” (1967).

Movie buffs will have fun identifying all the other films that “Austin Powers” pays homage to; I caught references to “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” as well as “BVD,” all three Bonds, Matt Helm and “Our Man Flint.” And those who recall Bond’s adventures with Pussy Galore may be tickled at his female antagonist this time, sinister Alotta Fagina (Fabiana Udenio).

The casting is right. Michael York plays it straight as Basil Exposition, the British spymaster assigned to bring Powers up to date. Hurley again shows good comic sense (she regards her own sexuality with amusement). Charles Napier, from “BVD,” is hard-edged Commander Gilmore, all teeth and grim concern. And Seth Green strikes just the right modern note in totally dismissing everything his father has worked so long to destroy.

But best of all is Myers’ puppy-dog earnestness and enthusiasm for his role. You can almost see him trembling with delight through every scene; he can only imagine how exciting 1997 will be. Just think: When he was frozen, promiscuity became epidemic worldwide, people were having one night stands left and right, drugs were used for recreation rather than escape and minds were expanded instead of closed. He can’t wait to find out what great strides we’ve made in 30 years!

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