It's a Hard Knock Life When You've Got Golden Balls (Austin Powers in Goldmember (DVD))

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Austin Powers in Goldmember (DVD)
Date:	01/08/02 (1988 review reads)
Rating:

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An original form of art is virtually impossible to re-create again. Maybe that’s why it’s an original? The exception to the rule seems to be in movies. Inevitably, sequels don’t work. The reason being is that they merely expound the original idea and re-hash it. The utility value of the original has disappeared in a money-orientated venture with tired associations to its origins. So what happens when you sequel the sequel?

Goldmember is the 3rd in the Austin Powers lineage. Co-written by Michael Mullers and the exuberant Mike Myers, it seeks to re-capture the schoolboy humour of the first 2 outings albeit with a psychological undercurrent on this occasion.


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Mike Myers .... Austin Danger Powers/ Dr. Evil/ Fat Bastard/ Goldmember
Beyoncé Knowles .... Foxy Cleopatra
Nichole Hiltz .... French Tutor
Michael York .... Basil Exposition
Michael Caine .... Captain Hendricks / Nigel Powers
Seth Green .... Scott Evil
Eddie Adams (III) .... Young Basil Exposition
Robert Wagner .... Number Two
Mindy Sterling .... Frau Farbissina
Verne Troyer .... Mini-Me, Mini-Austin
Tom Cruise .... Himself
Danny DeVito .... Himself
Gwyneth Paltrow .... Herself
Quincy Jones .... Himself
Ozzy Osbourne .... Himself

Running time: 90 mins
Cert: 12

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Anyone that’s seen the first 2 movies will soon get the gist of where this one’s going. If you haven’t then fear not, here’s the basic plot:

An earlier introduction than normal sees Dr Evil (Master Villain) planning to use his (frickin) laser beam in a dastardly plot to take over the world. Only on this occasion, Austin (spoof version of James Bond) catches him in the act (oo..er) so it’s off to prison for Dr Evil and Mini-Me (Master criminal's cloned, midget son).

Austin Powers is a 60
’s throwback to when free love was in and men wore neckerchiefs and winkle pickers. His national health glasses complete the image of the oldest swinger in town who’s shagadelic baby.

As a result of his contribution to spying and generally saving the world, Austin attends a medal ceremony at Buckingham Palace. During his speech he pays due credit to his father (Micheal Caine) but as the attendees turn to pay homage, Austin sees only an empty chair much to the ridicule of the congregation. This fuels the plot with Austin seeking both his father physically (as it turns out he’s later kidnapped by Goldmember) and spiritually with this not being the first occasion that Nigel Powers has let his son down.

In one of many spoof movie scenes, Austin visits Dr Evil in prison to try and identify which criminal mastermind would kidnap his father. In a straight send up of Silence of the Lambs, Dr Evil, dressed in boiler suit, eventually gives away the crucial information in return for a more comfortable prison environment via a transfer to a less secure unit.

Austin discovers that he has to travel back to the 1970’s in order to track down Goldmember who, we discover, lost his genitalia in a smelting accident providing a spoof parallel of Goldfinger from the James Bond catalogue. Austin jumps into his time machine, otherwise known as a 1970’s pink pimp mobile, possibly stolen from Huggy Bear of Starsky & Hutch fame.

The rest of the movie revolves around Austin’s attempts to rescue his father whilst, inevitably, Dr Evil and Mini-me escape from prison to hatch yet another diabolic plot to take over the world (or at least extort it of several trillion gazillion yen).

So does this one work? Well, it’s directed by Jay Roach who did a great job with Meet the Parents. The direction is certainly in the same comic vein with plenty of stunts and cameos to provide a distinction from the earlier films. The
players appear to be genuinely enjoying themselves although the adlib nature of Myers approach to the script will have undoubtedly helped with a relaxed, almost laconic delivery of the story. Apparently, the film took only days to shoot, as Myers wanted to capture that offbeat, laid back atmosphere that goes to form inventive free-form comedy.

Peter Deeming (From Hell, Dr Mulholland) executes some nifty cinematography calling for the inclusion of some CGI at times along with plenty of stunts to support the comic script. The movie seemingly gets about with plenty of location shots from as far afield as Japan and a number of mock sea scenes involving Dr Evil’s submarine.

The inclusion of so much parody is almost Pythonesqe in its nature but when you consider that (Canadian) Myers had a British upbringing then maybe that’s not so surprising. Certainly, his grasp of very English irony makes it easy for local audiences to relate to although this movie is hardly here to test your intellect. Mike Myers gives you what you expect – a string of variously inventive, lavatorial and sexual gags aimed at a basic level. Those folks that happen to like Python type humour will love it seeing this as merely a later re-working of Wayne’s World only more in your face.

Beyonce Knowles is the latest sidekick. As Foxy Cleopatra she excels as the sassy, 70’s black chick mould, clicking her fingers and inflating her perm to good effect. Bizarrely, there are no "love scenes" in Goldmember as Austin finds himself more interested in exploring his father-son hang-ups than expunging his mojo with the leading lady.

Michael Caine’s inclusion as Nigel Powers, on the whole, works. He retrieves his own earlier creation of the womanising, cockney wideboy, Alfie as the inspiration for the suave, ultra-confident senior spy that was responsible for the inception of our hero. Caine certainly seems to enjoy his part although
the play on Cockney rhyming slang at one point seemed to lose the audience (so how a US audience got on with the English play on words is anyone’s guess).

Goldmember is a weak addition to Myer’s cabinet of comic creations. Something of a one-trick pony, Goldmember’s only offering resembling humour is his overly Belgian accent. There is a constant play on not being able to "undershtand" Goldmember apart from the alternative giggle that whenever he looks into his pant area, the region lights up with a glowing gold aura.

There are several walk on parts involving a number of Hollywood luminaries who obviously craved the inclusion of an Austin Powers movie on their CV. Some work, some don’t but they add up to novelty value that make for a humorous departure as well as defining the beginning and the end of the film.

For me, the sub-plot involving Mini-me’s ousting as Dr Evil’s son and his subsequent revenge provide the necessary pathos for the movie to work. Verne Troyer is simply hilarious and steals virtually every scene that he’s in. "Hard Knock Life" is wonderfully funny as it’s executed a la Annie in the prison. Myer’s interaction with Mini-me is a joy to behold and the scene involving another childish exchange with his biological son, Scott is typical of the comic discourse that the film is capable of.

Funniest scenes:

 Austin’s shadow show on board the submarine with some inventive images for an incredulous sailor. You'll never think of giving birth in quite the same way!

 The "Hard Knock Life" musical skit involving Austin and Mini-me followed by a hillbilly musically backed escape.

 Austin’s recovery from unplugging a water fountain involving a peeing statue (figure that one out).

 Most of the scenes with Mini-me in them.

The film has flaws but then th
at’s hardly surprising given the nature of the hit and miss approach to both plot and delivery. The running mole joke on the face of Basil Exposition’s aide goes on too long. It’s lifted straight from Uncle Buck which is OK but you can milk a gag too much. Fat Bastard really isn’t very funny. Here we have him as a Sumo Wrestler making a bid to go semi-straight. There are only so many connotations of poo and fart jokes you can come up with and when the character’s so repugnant to start with it takes the edge of the humour.

So, what’s the verdict? I went into the movie with low expectations. It had already had mixed reviews including a savaging from Cosmo Landesman in the Sunday Times. Jonathon Ross loved it, as did the Sun so it seemed that the movie critic world was reasonably divided. This film made me laugh. The humour was schoolboy; at times the gags were obvious ("You may be a cunning linguist, but I’m a master debater". Japanese twins named "Fook Yoo" and "Fook Mi") but I enjoyed it. Whether it was because my expectations were so low to start with I’m not sure. I even liked the sentiment of Austin Powers trying to decipher his relationship with his father (which takes a bizarre twist at the end). If you are going along for a good old rude chuckle in the classic traditions of Benny Hill and Carry On films then you’ll probably love this. If you take offence at saucy seaside postcards then you probably won't.

This won’t go down as a classic but it’s not bad as a sequel (or a sequel to a sequel). The terms and expressions of Austin Powers have passed into every day language, as have the characters. Don’t be too surprised if you hear "Yeah baby!" and "Oh behave" for some years to come.

Thanks for reading

Marandina

Goldmember is currently on general release across the country.

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