The third instalment of the Austin Powers franchise offers the same successful mix as "The Spy Who Shagged Me": lavatory humour, celebrity cameos, and
devastatingly accurate parodies of pop culture.
Operating under the 'bigger is better' principle, "Goldmember" starts with an all-action spoof sequence featuring some of Hollywood's most familiar faces. Pausing briefly to re-acquaint us with Dr Evil (Myers, on top form), his wayward son Scott (Green) and his pint-sized cohort Mini-Me (Troyer), Roach proceeds to introduce some colourful new elements: leprous villain Goldmember (Myers in blond wig and roller-skates), a sexy female lead (Knowles), and the hero's long-lost superspy father (Caine).
All the above figure in a thoroughly preposterous plot which finds Austin
travelling to the 70s in search of his kidnapped pa. There he teams up
with the Afro-sporting double agent Foxxy Cleopatra (Knowles) before zipping back to the future to thwart Dr Evil and Goldmember's dastardly plan to take over the world.
The film makers deserve credit for expanding so confidently on their original premise and developing their universe in so many bizarre directions. Not everything is shagadelic, however. Robert Wagner is
criminally underused as Evil's suave Number Two, Myers' Fat Bastard character makes an unwelcome return, while Caine delivers such a lazy performance one assumes he was only doing it for his yacht.
"Goldmember" is always amusing and often hilarious with production values that rival those of a Bond film. A little more discipline from Roach and it might have been an improvement on its predecessors and not merely their equal.
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
