Get in My Belly

With apologies to The Jerk, there has been no bigger fool on the big screen in my life time than Austin Powers. Raised on the free love of the 60’s, Powers selfishly cryogenically froze himself when his nemesis Dr. Evil did the same, so they could continue their feud at a later time. That ended up being a cultural opposite of the happy sixties, the drab 90’s and International Man of Mystery was the ultimate fish out of water movie played to hilarious effect.

As great of the first movie was, the second, The Spy that Shagged Me remains its best. Thanks to Heather Graham, in one of only two roles she wasn’t completely horrible in (the other being Boogie Night which can say something about her personally), as the female version of Austin that he teams up with when Dr. Evil time jumps back to the 60’s. And then Mike Myers manages to create an even creepier character than Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard, a real life version of Jabba the Hut. And of course, there was nothing more entertaining than Mini-Me.

Sure Goldmember was a colossal disappointment and many of the most memorable lines from the franchise have been beaten to death more than any other quotes in the past decade other than “I think I threw up a little in my mouth” (though I still like to throw out “She’s a man, baby” every once in a while) but Austin Power still deserves a spot in the Scooter Hall of Fame. There are rumors of Mike Myers working on a fourth and here is hoping it is better than recent trilogy killers like the recent Indiana Jones movie. Or at the very least have a line or two we can beat into the ground for the next five years.