Austin's Gold Tarnished
Has Meyers Lost His Mojo?

After only the third installment of the Austin Powers franchise, it seems possible to have too much of a good thing. On the heels of the wildly successful Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Mike Meyers and the cast return to the golden goose again, with the apparent intent to strangle it once and for all. Austin Powers in Goldmember tries too hard to be familiar while being innovative, but instead seems overdone and worn out. This is not the best Austin Powers movie, but it is still sure to please fans.

Meyers once again dons the roles of Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, and the humongous Fat Bastard. Likewise, he also takes on the persona of a new villain, the titular Goldmember. In addition to Meyers, Robert Wagner (Number 2), Mindy Sterling (Frau Farbissina), Verne Troyer (Mini-Me), Michael York (Basil Exposition), and Seth Green (Scott Evil) also return.

New faces on the set include Beyoncé Knowles (from the singing group Destiny's Child) as Foxy Cleopatra and Michael Caine (Oscar® winner for The Cider House Rules) as Austin's father Nigel Powers.

There are some great moments in Goldmember. The opening sequence had me laughing hard, but it turned out that this would be one of the few original ideas in the film. Most of the story revolves around the same old jokes that are (by this point) becoming sad parodies of themselves. One running gag from first two films (Dr. Evil interrupting his son and telling him "Shhh!" or "Zip it!") seemed trite. Scott Evil even rolls his eyes and says "Here we go again."

The weakest point of the film, however, lay in the new material. The villainous Goldmember was intended as a jumping off point to parody the blaxploitation films of the 1970s. Sadly, Austin and friends are only back in time for a few brief scenes before running back to the present. With such a rife field of comedy waiting to be harvested, I find it difficult to believe that Meyers couldn't think of more funny things to do or say. Instead, Goldmember is merely another freak in Meyers' menagerie.

Unlike the fast-paced comedy of the first two films, Goldmember seemed sluggish at times, spending too much time on old jokes or exposition rather than making me laugh. By the end of the film, I was questioning the change in its tone. The outrageous comedy had given way to a sappy plot device as hackneyed as some of the gags.

There are a number of humorous cameos in the film, and some of those alone are worth the price of admission. As always, Burt Bacharach manages to make an appearance, but it's merely for a rendition of "What the World Need Now." This same song was used in the first Austin Powers movie, and here Bacharach's cameo was relegated to the end credits of the film.

It looked like Austin could do for New Line Cinema what Bond does for MGM: offering a perpetual money-making machine with a loyal fan base that would never tire of the British super-spy. Unfortunately, comedy does not repeat itself as readily as action sequences. If Meyers wants to make Austin an institution, he is going to have to take it up a notch the next time he returns to the silver screen.

MY RATING: 4 out of 10.

RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 93 min.