Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

New Line Pulls Out All the Stops for its Flagship Character

1997's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery was that rare movie that did so-so in its theatrical release but then found a huge audience on video and became a big sensation. So its sequel, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me was far more anticipated than the original, and had people running around "Yeah, baby"-ing each other practically to death.

New Line is a studio that knows where its bread is buttered, and hyped the sequel and this DVD in a very big way. Was it worth it? Does the sequel stand up to the original? Let's have a look...

The Movie

Like its predecessor, AP:TSWSM follows horny British secret agent Austin Powers (Mike Myers) through his comical adventures as he battles Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) and thwarts his plans for world domination. Austin is from the 60s, when free love and consequence-free drug use were the norm, and the first movie was a fish-out-of-water story. In the sequel, Dr. Evil goes back in time and steals Austin's "mojo," rendering our hero unable to shag, so he follows Dr. Evil back in time to recover his mojo and again thwart Dr. Evil.

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I have to say that I don't think The Spy Who Shagged Me even touches the original. In the first movie, Austin was a genuine character. A ridiculous, over-the-top character, but at least close to three-dimensional. The Austin of the sequel is totally one-dimensional, and Myers' performance (as Austin) is like an old rock band playing its hits. He shouts "Yeah baby" even louder and more often than before, because he knows we'll laugh. He mugs into the camera, instead of playing to the other actors.

What's lost in the performance is subtlety. In the first movie, Austin played it cool most of the time but occasionally lost control of himself and broke out into jubilant "yeah baby" outbursts. In the second, he's yelling and shouting and grinning like a fool throughout the movie, with only a few, and very brief, moments of restraint. The difference is like the difference between a human actor and a cartoon character.

Speaking of one-dimensional, I've never seen a character as uninteresting and unappealing as Heather Graham as Felicity Shagwell. The only good thing about her is her wardrobe-- other than that she's totally wasted and adds nothing comedically to the movie. Her character is poorly written, poorly acted, and poorly written. Also poorly written.

The other fatal flaw in the movie is its heavy reliance on gags from the first one. And don't even get me started on the blatant product placement. (Does anyone remember that Myers made fun of that in Wayne's World?)

Still, the movie does have more than its share of funny moments. Myers' performance as Dr. Evil is also a little too turned-up from the first one, but it's not near as tacky as his Austin reprise. Myers' third role, as a Scottish spy named Fat Bastard, is totally disgusting but also pretty funny.

I wonder what I would think of this movie if I hadn't seen the first one. I still don't think I would like it as much as the first, but I wouldn't have the first to compare it to, and hold against it.
6 out of 10

The Video

New Line pulled out all the stops for this DVD, knowing it would be a big seller. An anamorphic, 2.35:1 transfer was used here and for the most part it looks excellent. I did notice some hard edges and a few problems with diagonal contours, and a little shimmer in the early scenes, but these are very minor gripes.

The colors in this movie are very bright, in an effort to evoke the 60s, and they look great here. The outdoor scenes are also perfectly lit and also look excellent.
8 out of 10

The Audio

Like the video, the audio got a regal treatment for this DVD. It's a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix (of course) and I noticed how good it sounded several times during the movie. The dialogue is actually spread around the speakers in some scenes, rather than being strictly kept in the center channe, and there are some great stereo effects-- the wipes between scenes, that sweep right to left, are accompanied by right-to left 'whoosh' sound effects. Cool.
9 out of 10

The Extras

Here's where New Line really outdid itself, though. First off is the menus. As far as I know this is the first DVD where one of the actors in the movie actually shot a menu selection. Myers in full Austin regalia stands amid bright colored, spinning flowers, and says, "make a selection, baby," and points to all the choices on the menu. These are certainly the most sophisticated menus I've seen on a DVD.

There are ten deleted scenes on here, and they actually caused me to like the movie less. And here's why: They're funnier, and more original, than half of the gags that were left in the movie! I can't believe that this material was left out... my guess is that it was cut solely to sell more DVDs-- a phenomenon that will probably spread as DVD players become more widespread.

There is an audio commentary with Myers, director Jay Roach, and co-writer Michael McCullers. If you're looking for big laughs, look to the deleted scenes, but if you're looking for insight to what these guys were thinking when they made this movie (and I certainly was), you'll find it here. Roach directed the first movie as well, so he and Myers have an easy rapport and complement each other's comments well.

In the "I'll be very surprised if I ever look at this" category, there are three music videos, by Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, and Scary Spice.

There is a 'behind the scenes' documentary on the movie, the most interesting part of which is seeing how Mike Myers feels about this character the second time around. There is also a hidden special features page, that allows you to jump straight to Dr. Evil's song in the movie (where he sings to Mini-Me to the tune of "Just the Two of Us,") and the Comedy Central short "The Dr. Evil Story.")
10 out of 10

If you liked this movie, I recommend this DVD without hesitation. It's one of the best DVDs, video, audio, and extras-wise, I've yet seen. I personally liked the movie than I loved it, but I still think this is an outstanding DVD.

-- Alex Castle feels bad for Heather Graham.

In This Article

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Image

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

Rated "PG"
Release DateNovember 16, 1999
Platformsdvd, blu-ray, theater, umd-video