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It's sheer screen lunacy!
Mike Myers thrills and gags in Austin Powers in Goldmember.
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Arthur J Pais
Baby, are you in a peculiar mood to enjoy yards of low humour, including gags about flatulence?
The buck-toothed weirdo is back in action, grinning on over 4,000 screens in North America. And you may want to catch him in the first week, enhancing your experience by seeing the film with delirious crowds cheering the gags.
In Austin Powers in Goldmember, the funniest movie so far this year, the often obnoxious humour and James Bond movies spoofs are also accompanied by some inventive comedy with Mike Myers, who also co-wrote the film playing four parts.
Unless you have sworn to see only those movies with sophisticated humour (where are they, anyway?), sit back and enjoy 97 minutes of screen lunacy. Enjoy the bathroom humour, the parodies and watch out for the knockout opening, poking fun of a raft of spy-adventure-action flicks.
It also makes a clever use of celebrity cameos. We won't spoil the fun revealing the identity of the stars and filmmakers in this splendid sequence. How you wish the rest of the movie could be equally inspiring.
The enormous success of the first two Austin Powers movies, which also starred Mike Myers, paved the way for the current edition, which is far more slick and glossy than the previous ones. While some might complain that the humour sounds jaded and gags look a bit stale, there certainly seems to be a big audience for the new film.
The huge $3.5 million haul the new movie took in a few preview shows Thursday night points to a big opening this weekend. The first Austin Powers movie opened to small numbers and ended its run with about $100 million worldwide. A clearly profitable film, its reputation grew after its video release. The second film opened with $54 million, grossing $310 million worldwide and a bigger haul from video stores.
The new film with its wafer-thin plot is directed with gusto by Jay Roach. The very vile Dr Evil (Myers) joins the more evil Goldmember (also Myers) to fight Austin (Myers yet again). Then, there is Myers playing Fat Bastard who has by now become a Sumo wrestler.
Like in the last Austin Powers adventure (The Spy Who Shagged Me), Fat Bastard inspires plenty of scatological humour. Goldmember is a new character in the series: he is a megalomaniac whose fixation with gold brought about a gruesome smelting accident that particularly hurt his genitalia. 
Other characters include Nigel Powers (a delightful Michael Caine), the dashing dad of Austin. Caine, with Austin-style bad teeth, is delightful. It has been a long time watching him give such a smart performance, never mind the Oscar he won for his supporting role as the troubled doctor in The Cider House Rules.
It is suggested that his failure as a father drove Austin to his 'Yeah baby' life of sex and chaos. To appreciate Caine best in this film, you must have some knowledge of his landmark films, The Ipcress File and Alfie, for which he won an Oscar for playing a down and out Cockney whose life takes many tragic turns.
Never mind the sins of the senior Austin Powers, the son has to rescue him from Dr Evil's hands. And that brings to the film some emotional weight. In handling multiple roles, Myers cannot match the versatility of Peter O'Toole but he is very energetic and often very funny.
The Pink Panther movies, starring O'Toole, became less and less inspired but so far Myers has managed to be supremely silly. With his ruffled clothes, silly smile, and at times deadpan face, Myers mocks the 1960s and its hedonistic lifestyle.
The emotional scenes in the movie suck. There is no room here for sentiments. Yet a feeble attempt is made to produce pathos in Austin's longing for his father's approval. Austin's rotten teeth, looking even funnier in this film than in the last two additions, have created magic at the box-office and in video stores.
Whether the new Austin Powers is going to be as big a hit as its predecessor would not be known for another three to four or five weeks. But New Line and Mike Myers must have already plotted a new outing. It is quite likely the audiences will give them the green light.
PS: Did I suggest seeing the movie in the first week (if you can manage to get the good seats, particularly on the weekend)? I take that back, only for one reason. The audiences were laughing so loudly at the Thursday night special shows that I missed out a number of lines.