The movie was a huge success and spawned a pair of sequels, The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1992, and Goldmember in 2002. And with its innumerable '60s references and occasional preachiness, as Powers learns that his political incorrectness won't fly in 1997, the film often comes across as obvious and trope-ridden, rather than sharp or observant.Īt the time, though, audiences didn't seem to care. Too many scenes rely on long awkward pauses or gags repeated multiple times, which makes them feel more uncomfortable than humorous. His initial attempt to blackmail the world for $1 million (he hasn't realized that the value of money is different in 1997 than it was in 1967), his interactions with his truculent son Scott (Seth Green), and his declaration that he's going to put the captured Austin Powers in "an easily escapable situation involving an overly elaborate and exotic death" are all the kind of jokes that still land.īut for every comedic gem in the film, there are four or five moments that fall flat. There are some tremendous moments, particularly centered on Dr. Evil Argue With His Son Scott in 'Austin Powers' Seen now, it's clear that Austin Powers does a fine job creating a story (although it's aided on this count by having the Bond template to work from), but struggles in coming up with quality bits. The second is whether they can string all these bits together into a story that engages the audience and justifies the 90-minute running time. The first is whether the writers – here Myers himself – can come up with enough comedic bits to keep the movie funny. The success of any film like this one comes down to two factors. Evil holds the world hostage with stolen nuclear weapons), a Bond-girl Love interest (played by Elizabeth Hurley), an evil number two (named Number Two and played by Robert Wagner) an evil henchman (named Random Task, as a satire of the Bond character Oddjob) and a sexy villainess with a suggestive name (Alotta Fagina). There is a dastardly plot that threatens all mankind (Dr. Evil's re-emergence, gets thawed out to try to defeat him.įrom there, the story follows the Bond formula closely and parodically. Evil has now returned to wreak havoc on the world Powers, who was also frozen in 1967 to wait for Dr.
Evil (also played by Myers), who is a naked parody of master-villain Ernst Blofeld from the early Bond films. The story pits him against a nemesis named Dr.
Like Bond, Powers fights evil, drops cool lines, and gets the girls, but unlike Bond, he's ridiculous in every way. Watch Ming Tea's 'Daddy Wasn't There' VideoĪustin Powers takes this character and turns him into a parody of James Bond.
The idea for the story first took shape in the early '90s when Myers formed a faux '60s mod band with Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, called "Ming Tea." When they played, Myers would appear onstage as a swinger from that era named Austin Powers.
In the spring of 1997, he returned with Austin Powers. After six years, he retired from Saturday Night Live in 1995 and took a two-year hiatus from acting. He produced eight SNL spin-off movies in the following eight years, as well as several others, like Tommy Boy and Black Sheep which starred SNL cast members but didn't have their roots in sketches.Īt the same time, Myers' star had continued to rise. It was an immediate and immense success – grossing $181 million against a budget of $20 million and spawning a sequel the following year – which convinced Michaels that he could make a move into the film world. The first of these, in 1992, was Wayne's World. With his talent for falling completely into character and ability to create sketches that could support longer storylines, Myers was a natural choice for the spin-off films that SNL producer Lorne Michaels had begun to envision. These included the aforementioned Wayne Campbell ("Wayne's World") and Dieter ("Sprockets"), along with Linda Richman ("Coffee Talk"), Stuart Rankin ("All Things Scottish") and many more. Within eighteen months of his debut on Saturday Night Live, Myers had become one of the most popular cast members and had a large number of recurring bits on the show.