| Austin Powers 2 | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Jay Roach |
| Produced by | Mike Myers Demi Moore Jennifer Todd Suzanne Todd |
| Written by | Mike Myers Michael McCullers |
| Narrated by | Tony Jay |
| Starring | Mike Myers Heather Graham Seth Green Robert Wagner Rob Lowe Will Ferrell |
| Music by | George S. Clinton |
| Cinematography | Ueli Steiger |
| Editing by | Debra Neil-Fisher Jon Poll |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema (USA) Alliance Atlantis (Canada) |
| Release date(s) | 11 June 1999 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English German |
| Budget | $33 million[1] |
| Box office | $312,016,858 |
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, released in 1999, is the second film in the Austin Powers series that began with 1997's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and continued with Austin Powers in Goldmember. The film was directed by Jay Roach, co-written by Mike Myers and screenwriter Michael McCullers, and once again stars Myers as the title character. Myers also plays Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard. This sequel was followed in 2002 by Austin Powers In Goldmember.
The film's title is a play on the 1977 Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me and contains plot elements from James Bond films, Diamonds Are Forever (Laser Gun Plot and Cloning), You Only Live Twice (Secret Volcano Base), Moonraker (Outer Space Ventures), The Man with the Golden Gun (Mini Me based on character Nick Nack) and On Her Majesty's Secret Service (opening sequence in which Vanessa Kensington dies).
The film grossed around US$310 million in worldwide ticket sales, taking more money during its opening weekend than the entire box office proceeds of its predecessor. It was nominated at the 72nd Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Makeup.
Contents |
NATO’s monitoring facility in Guam observes the return of Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) and informs British intelligence. At Dr. Evil’s Seattle headquarters, Dr. Evil is presented with a one-eighth-size clone of himself (Verne Troyer) whom he calls Mini-Me. Number Two (Robert Wagner), who survived his incineration towards the end of the previous film, also reveals the enormous profits they have made by legitimately investing in a previously unknown startup company called "Starbucks". However, Dr. Evil is unimpressed and unveils his latest evil plan—he has developed a "time machine" to go back to the sixties and steal Austin Powers’ (also Mike Myers) mojo, a fluid inside his testicles which is the source of Austin's incredible sexual prowess and appeal.
Meanwhile, back in 1999, Austin is still enjoying his honeymoon with his wife—the former Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley). Unfortunately, something goes amiss, and it turns out that she is actually one of Dr. Evil’s kamikaze fembots who attempts to kill Austin after being malfunctioned by Austin's T.V. remote, but eventually self-destructs. He grieves briefly, but then proceeds to the lobby naked and celebrates being single again.
Dr. Evil and Mini-Me go back to 1969 and meet up with a younger Number Two (Rob Lowe) and (a not-so-young) Frau Farbissina (Mindy Sterling). A disgruntled “Scottish Guard” with unusual eating habits called Fat Bastard (again, Mike Myers) has been hired to extract Austin’s mojo from his frozen body at the Ministry of Defence Cryo Chamber.
British intelligence warns Austin that one of Dr Evil’s agents is after him, and during a photo shoot the wanton Ivana Humpalot (Kristen Johnston) seduces him, but at the last moment she admits to her orders and claims he is too sexy for her to go through with killing him. They then proceed to have sex in his bed. Unfortunately they do not get far before he discovers that he has lost his mojo, and is therefore impotent.
The MOD learns that Dr. Evil has developed a time machine and sends Austin back to 1969 with its own time travel device, in a convertible Volkswagen New Beetle painted with 1960s LSD-themed colours. Austin arrives back at a party in his London pad and with the assistance of a CIA agent, Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham), escapes another assassination attempt by two of Dr. Evil’s operatives. However, the two of them are chased by Mustafa (Will Ferrell), yet another of Dr. Evil's henchmen, and when caught he reveals the existence of a secret volcano lair (due to an inability to withhold the answer when asked the same question three times), but is prevented from divulging its location because of Mini-Me shooting him in the neck with a dart. He falls off a cliff. Mustafa is still alive but very badly injured. He asks Austin for help, but Austin ignores him. After examining photographs from the crime scene at MOD headquarters, Austin identifies Fat Bastard as the perpetrator of the theft.
At Dr. Evil’s secret volcano lair, Fat Bastard arrives with Austin’s mojo. Dr. Evil drinks some of it and engages in some “private time” with Frau Farbissina. This results in an awkward “sometime after” situation when Frau reveals that she is “late.” However, at the same moment Scott (Seth Green), Dr. Evil's son, arrives through the time portal. Dr. Evil announces his latest plan: to hold the United States — and the whole world — ransom by threatening to destroy Washington D.C., and then additional major cities each hour, using a giant "laser" on the moon.
In London, Austin and Felicity get to know each other, and when Felicity tries to have sex with Austin, he regretfully turns her down because of his lost mojo. Under MOD instructions to implant a homing device into Fat Bastard, Felicity seduces him, allowing her to plant it in his buttocks. Unfortunately, Fat Bastard forces it out of his bowels into a Paddington Station toilet, but a stool sample (which Austin accidentally drinks, mistaking it as coffee) from the scene is analyzed to reveal traces of a rare vegetable that only grows on one Caribbean island.
Austin and Felicity arrive on the island, but are immediately apprehended. They are put in a cell with a single guard who is overcome when Felicity shows off her breasts. Dr. Evil and Mini-Me leave for the moon to install the giant laser and are followed by Austin and Felicity, who hitch a ride on Apollo 11. In Dr. Evil’s moon base, Austin battles with Mini-Me, eventually flushing him into space.
As Austin confronts Dr. Evil, Dr. Evil gives him a choice: save Felicity or the world. Felicity is locked in a chamber with poison gas. She tells him to save the world and he succeeds in doing so by kicking Frau, diverting it and saving Washington D.C. Unfortunately, Felicity is killed by the poison gas. He chases Dr. Evil and shoots him in the leg. Before Austin kills him however, Dr. Evil tells him he could use the "time machine" to go back in time to save Felicity and the world. Austin does and travels backwards ten minutes and meets up with himself to save both the world and Felicity.
Foiled again, Dr. Evil initiates the self-destruction mechanism of the moon base and escapes in his rocket after throwing the bottle of Austin's mojo in the air. Both Austins try to catch it but bump into each other and it crashes on the floor, destroying his mojo. However, Felicity points out that all the things he has done show that he never really lost his mojo in the first place. With seconds to spare they escape through the time portal back to 1999.
Back at Austin's Pad, Fat Bastard makes another attempt to assassinate Austin, but Felicity distracts him by asking him is he happy. After an emotional moment, he is snapped back into reality and Felicity disarms him and kicks him in the "Mommy and Daddy Button" . Fat Bastard falls and breaks the dishes. Afterwards, they (along with many other people) have a party. Meanwhile, Dr. Evil recovers Mini-Me from space and once again vows to "get" Austin Powers.
Later, on Jerry Springer, Scott learns he was not created in a test tube but is actually the love child of Dr. Evil and Frau Farbissina.
During the credits, Austin is seen returning to his pad, only to hear Felicity having sex with another man. When he enters the room, he discovers that it is in fact the past Austin, who makes the claim that since he and Austin are the same person, it's not cheating. Austin of course forgives Felicity ("I can't blame you, Felicity, I mean... the man is handsome, baby!") As he discovers he's got his mojo back, both Austins then make their move on Felicity as the clip fades to the credits.
After the credits, Mustafa, still at the bottom of the cliff, is asking for help.
When the film was released, the title proved controversial in the United Kingdom, where the word shag is used to refer to sexual intercourse.
In the UK, two sets of TV adverts for the film existed, for showing before and after the watershed. The former was designed to air during daytime hours and only gave part of the title, (Austin Powers: The Spy Who—), before cutting off with one of a range of slightly suggestive scenes from the film, such as Austin squeezing out the contents of a massage oil bottle. The post watershed adverts, aired later in the evening, gave the full title. There were also two variations of the posters; one of them asterisked out the middle of the offending word or had named the film as Austin Powers 2.[3]
Singapore briefly forced a title change to The Spy Who Shioked Me (shioked means “treated nicely”).[3] In Finland the film was called Agentti joka tuuppasi minua (The spy who bumped me), in China The Spy Who Liked Me a Lot. The Italian version was titled La spia che ci provava, which can be roughly translated as The spy who tried to seduce, but in a slightly more provocative way. In Brazil, it was named as Austin Powers - O Agente Bond Cama, roughly translated as The Spy Good in Bed (a gag with the pronunciation of James Bond's last name, which can be interpreted as "bom de", meaning "good at something").
Not all countries translated the title into something less raunchy. The Norwegian title of the movie is Spionen som spermet meg, which is a slightly dirtier way of saying “The Spy Who Ejaculated on Me”. In Quebec, the title is "Austin Powers: Agent 00sexe" (Austin Powers: Agent 00sex). The German title is "Spion in geheimer Missionarsstellung", roughly translatable to "Spy on a secret missionary position" - "In geheimer Mission" ("On a secret Mission") was the German title of the TV-series original of Mission: Impossible.
As with the first film, the international release of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me differs from its North American releases, as it includes scenes omitted in the North American version. Many of these scenes are accessible on the Region 1 DVD.
| Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |||||
| Released | 1 June 1999 | ||||
| Recorded | August 1998 - May 1999 | ||||
| Genre | Rock, pop | ||||
| Length | 40:41 | ||||
| Label | Maverick | ||||
| Austin Powers series chronology | |||||
|
|||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [4] |
| More Music From the Motion Picture Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |||||
| Released | 26 October 1999 | ||||
| Genre | Rock, pop | ||||
| Length | 45:20 | ||||
| Label | Maverick | ||||
| Austin Powers series chronology | |||||
|
|||||
The movie's soundtrack contains the 1999 smash hit "Beautiful Stranger" by Madonna. The song won a Grammy in 2000. Mike Myers appears as Austin Powers in the video, directed by Brett Ratner.
Dr. Evil also sings a parody of Will Smith's popular 1997 cover of the Grover Washington, Jr. classic "Just the Two of Us", referring in this case to his clone Mini-Me.
The soundtrack sold over 1 million copies in the USA and was certified Platinum. A second soundtrack was also released, entitled More Music From the Motion Picture.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [5] |
The film received mixed reviews from critics, earning a score of 52% on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 59 out of 100 on Metacritic.[6][7]
American Film Institute recognition:
The Spy who Shagged Me had a strong box opening at No.1[1][9]
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||