Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Elevstor Pitch: Austin Powers is taking on Dr Evil again. Evil has escaped from isolation in space and has returned to the 1960s (I think), requiring Austin to do the same, together with his new sidekick Felicity Shagwell. Dr Evil and his diminutive assistant, Mini-Me, arrange for a lazer weapon to be sited on the moon, and then attempt to exort  a vast sum of money from the US government. Meanwhile Fat Bastard has managed to remove Austin’s “Mojo” from his frozen self back in the 60s apparently making him impotent.

Content: Loads of sexual innuendo and young women scantily dressed, including a lengthy opening to the film with Austin nude but his rude bits always covered in some way. Almost a continuous stream of sex related jokes when Austin is on screen, and if they don’t work cut to some sort of dance. Meanwhile Dr Evil is seen in various places, which could be his headquarters, spoofed on the climaxes to the early Bond films.

A View: I found that I quite liked the celebrity cameos. Liz Hurley only appears in the pre-title sequence, but probably has the best joke in the film, so it is downhill from there. Roger Ebert pointed out that the premise from the original – a man from the 60s unfrozen in the 90s – seemed to have been forgotten, which could be why the film seemed to lack focus. It has a sort of Benny Hill quality, so if you can tolerate that maybe a watch for nothing.

Additional Info: This film’s takings well exceeded its production cost on its first weekend and it was eventually to take over $312 million.