Anthony's Film Review - Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

The third Austin Powers movie is goofy and borders on hilarity...

The opening of Austin Powers in Goldmember is so funny that I'm not even going to give you the exact details. I will say, though, that it features a clever and unexpectedly funny use of celebrity cameos. Along with this is Austin Powers breaking the fourth wall. Everything here has nothing to do with the plot in the movie and is not something that Dr. Evil is aware of. You might as well consider this sequence the only way to do something funny and out of place without ruining the movie itself.

It may sound like I'm digressing, but I'm not. The funny opening scene sets the stage for the rest of the movie. There are many jokes that achieve a good level of laughter. Like the second Austin Powers movie, the humor has little to do with poking fun at James Bond. Instead, it relies on pop culture gags and other means of making the audience laugh. Some of my favorite scenes involve partial obstruction of English subtitles, a urination joke at a fountain, Austin Powers trapping Mini-Me in a bag, and Austin and Mini-Me forming a very strange silhouette. Despite my disappointment with the second Austin Powers movie, this third one really made me laugh.

There is a plot and characters for the jokes to be strung around, but they are less important. Basically, Austin Powers battles Dr. Evil once again, this time with an ally in Foxxy Cleopatra (Beyonce Knowles), who is "a whole lotta woman." Goldmember, who does indeed have a certain body part that shines, is the second villain, though he is less memorable. And to make the cast interesting, Michael Caine appears as Austin's swinging father. Like father, like son.

I am happy to say that there is no Fat Bastard or any disgusting character to ruin the movie. The second Austin Powers movie went wrong because of scatological humor that clashed with the lighthearted humor. Austin Powers in Goldmember goes back to the way the first movie did it. In other words, all it has to do is focus on making us smile. No need to resort to gross humor.

So I'm going to end this review by briefly mentioning the ending. Not in detail, of course. Basically, it's like the beginning of the movie. It delivers something that is funny because it's unexpected. Here, it involves a revelation about some of the characters, which leads to a scene you would probably least expect. But that's probably why it's funny. The very last shot does leave the series open for a fourth installment. It will certainly be goofier and weirder because of the way this third movie ends. Then again, if that will make Austin Powers 4 pretty funny, who cares?

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Austin Powers in Goldmember, visit the Internet Movie Database.

In addition, check out my reviews of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.