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6/07/2022

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) - Spoofing funny, baby, yeah!

♥♥

  

+ Best New Franchise of the Year + Best Poster of the Year + Best Spoof Movie of the Year


A barrage of fun quotes from the film in psychedelic 1960s styled lettering and the inimitable Mike Myers fill out this hilarious poster for Jay Roach's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

England's #1 spy is cryogenically frozen at the peak of 1960s 'swinging London' period, as his arch nemesis Dr. Evil does the same. 30 years later he is unfrozen, as his unique talents are needed again: Evil has reawoken with a new terrible scheme!

 

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is written by writer/co-producer/star Mike Myers (The Love Guru (2008)) and directed by great New Mexican filmmaker Jay Roach (Zoo Radio (1990)).

It is a wildly cheerful, coarse comedy that's a grand spoof of the Bond movies and the 1960s in the West. It opens with an irresistible dance sequence, and is followed by wacky scenes in London of the past, leading into a veritable sea of vulgarities, word puns and physical gags. Will Ferrell (Zoolander (2001)), Tom Arnold (Hard Breakers (2010)) and Christian Slater (True Romance (1993)) are fun in cameos, and Robert Wagner (The Hunters (1958)) as No. 2 is really funny!

Myers has created his best and most resilient character yet here in Powers, which pulls the leg hilariously on the sexualized, male-centric, reality-detached 007 fantasy universe of the past. One might suspect that some of the film's non-stop gags are there mainly to boost the playing time, because some of them truly are detours. - But since they are mostly so funny, it doesn't really matter.

 

Related posts:

Jay RoachBombshell (2019) - Toxic US culture laid bare in Roach's great drama 

Trumbo (2015) - Good actors and a thrilling true story make this biopic work 

Game Change (2012, TV movie) - Moore and Co. shimmer in Roach's dynamite political retelling 
Dinner for Schmucks/Dinner with Schmucks (2010) - Carell carries Roach's flawed but utterly hilarious comedy  

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Meet the Parents (2000) - Roach, Stiller, De Niro and Co. make comedy gold

1997 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

 









 

Watch a very short trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 16.5 mil. $

Box office: 67.7 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.10 times its cost)

[Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery premiered 29 April (Los Angeles) and runs 91 minutes. Powers was an early 1990s SNL character that Myers created with inspiration from his father. Myers was paid 3 mil. $ for the movie. Shooting took place from August - October 1996 in Nevada, including Las Vegas, and in California, including in Los Angeles. Many of the scenes reportedly contain improvisation. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Breakdown, to a 9.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 4 weekends in the top 5 (#4-#4-#4-X-X-#5), grossing 53.8 mil. $ (79.5 % of the total gross). The film did not have a big reception in the UK, which is attributed to Princess Diana's tragic death shortly prior to its release there. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Daniel Craig said in 2014 that the Bond movies had to change to a more serious tone following Austin Powers, which made the gags the franchise had previously done "impossible" due to its satirizing them. The film spun two sequels, the first being Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999). Roach returned with said film. Myers first returned in 54 (1998). Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is fresh at 74 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


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