50 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
50 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
vannesa kensington : `austin , do you smoke after sex ? ' austin powers : `i don't know baby , i've never looked ! '
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and so begins our journey into the most anticipated sequel of the summer season .
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austin powers 2 , the sequel to the sleeper hit of 1997 , is filled to the brim with uproarious sight gags and lurid toilet jokes that will make you keel over with hilarity .
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the mind of mike myers is obviously a very bizarre place .
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myers returns as the swinging 60's spy and his arch-nemesis , the bald headed dr . evil , who is given much of the spotlight here .
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there's an early scene in which dr . evil and his son scott ( seth green ) appear on a jerry springer segment entitled `my dad is evil and wants to take over the world' , hosted by springer himself .
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most of these talk-show gags , spoofing everything from oprah to regis and kathie lee , are no longer as funny as they once were .
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happily , this is an exception , especially when a fight breaks out between dr . evil and the other guests .
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( sample dialogue- `come back here you mother #@%$^ ! !
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you want a piece of me ? ' )
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the audience was in stitches .
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there are many good things about this sequel .
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dr . evil is now assisted by mini-me ( verne troyer ) , a pint-sized clone who is the result of an experiment gone awry .
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mini-me is the most perfect new character that any fan could ask for , and troyer does a terrific job of mimicking everything that his big brother does , pinkie and all .
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mindy sterling returns as frau farbissina , evil's loud-mouth assassin sidekick , and here we are treated to a brief romantic liaison between the two in an underground bedroom chamber .
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this works surprisingly well .
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afterward , there's even a meeting at the coffee machine , where their awkwardness is expressed in a scene you would expect in any normal office environment .
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oh , yes . . .
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the plot .
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after a short honeymoon with vanessa kensington ( elizabeth hurley ) that goes disastrously wrong , powers is back on the case to thwart the diabolical plans of dr . evil .
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in the original , the subject of the day was cryogenic freezing that enabled the characters to hop between two time periods .
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here , it's time travel .
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dr . evil has this crazy plan to steal austin's mojo ( the source of his sexual powers ) , so he jumps through a time portal back into 1969 when powers is still is his freezing chamber .
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there , he employs a grotesque 600-pound scottish assassin named fat bastard ( also myers ) to commandeer the mojo , so that our future hero is left completely shagless .
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meanwhile , austin is informed of evil's wrong-doing by basil exposition ( michael york ) , and is supplied with his very own time-traveling device in the form of a volkswagen beetle .
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once back in 1969 , powers meets a foxy cia operative named felicity shagwell ( heather graham ) , and learns of dr . evil's plans to destroy washington dc with a lazer on the moon .
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in one of the many uproarious jabs at star wars , evil calls the moon base a `death star' .
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if there ever was a movie that knew from the start it was a complete joke , it's austin powers : the spy who shagged me .
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ap2 has many hilarious moments , much more so , than the original austin powers .
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but what it doesn't have is the confident support system that the first boasted , and the jokes are now more scattershot and hit-and-miss .
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while myers has a knack for delivering clever , inspired gags , he sometimes doesn't know when to call it quits .
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the hilarious scene in the original involving mustafa ( will ferrell ) and his refusal to die is played out here in a disappointing and tired manner .
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robert wagner , as dr . evil's #2 man , has only one scene early on in the film , where he lacks all the focus of the character .
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one nice surprise is rob lowe , as the young #2 , who patterns wagner's voice and movements right down to a tee .
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there are more recycled jokes from the predecessor , including kristen johnston as ivana humpalot ( an unfunny rendition of alotta fagina ) .
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but myers has clearly put so much dedication into this project , and many bits are side-splittingly funny .
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don't miss an extended visual gag in a tent , where the shadows leave much to the imagination . . . .
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of the new characters , graham doesn't leave much of an impression .
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her performance is merely okay , and she lacks the gung-ho enthusiasm that made elizabeth hurley so enjoyable before her .
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and as for fat bastard . . .
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well , he provides one or two hilarious moments , but all of the obesity jokes and bathroom talk go too far .
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but my most severe complaint : mr . bigglesworth was only in one scene ! !
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but , with gritted teeth , i managed to get over that .
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this sequel will not leave fans disappointed ; it's more often than not a laugh riot .
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and , i look optimistically to the future , where i foresee more installments to the austin powers collection .
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if myers can up the quota of fresh ideas , we should be in store for much more .
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( c ) 1999 , jamey hughton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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jamey hughton ( 15 ) has written a weekly column in the starphoenix , saskatoon , sk since november , 1997 .
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he was a 1999 writing finalist in the canadian ytv achievement awards .
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