Release Date: May 2, 1997
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for nudity, sex-related dialogue and humor
Directed by: Jay Roach
Starring: Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York, Mimi Rogers, Robert Wagner, Seth Green, Fabiana Udenio, Mindy Sterling, Paul Dillon, Charles Napier, Will Ferrell

Plot:
The first in the comic series starring this bodacious 1960s spy played by the hilarious Mike Myers. Decked out in the gaudiest mod attire--ruffled shirts, tight-fitting candy-colored suits, horn-rimmed glasses, and prosthetic teeth--Austin Powers is anything but subtle. His near-constant exclamations of "Groovy, Baby," accompanied an uncandid flash of his flirtatious smile, only add to his wonderfully exaggerated hipster persona. Plotwise, Austin Powers and his enemy Dr. Evil (also played by Myers) awake from 30 years of frozen, cryogenic sleep to find themselves in the year 1997. A conniving Dr. Evil plots a reign of terror and mass destruction, but finds that his ideas and methods are a bit out of date. Our hero encounters a similar dilemma, realizing that he is definitely behind the times. A series of well-meaning though bumbling efforts to thwart the insidious Dr. Evil keep Austin Powers and his devastatingly beautiful partner Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley) hard at work as they travel from London to Las Vegas. With this tongue-in-cheek send up of James Bond spy films and 1960s cliches, director Jay Roach compliments Myer's over-the-top performance with a lighthearted soundtrack, fun photography, and amusingly retro sets.

Review:
There are regular comedies and then there are comedy films that spoof other movies. Austin Powers fall under the spoof category as it is a very effective spoof on the James Bond series. You can trust Mike Myers to deliver comedy and entertainment to audiences and actually make it memorable. He succeeds in both levels strongly with this clever and hilarious film, Austin Powers.

Mike Myers plays the character Austin Powers and he makes every element of this film work. If Mike Myers wasn't Austin Powers and if he hadn't written the screenplay himself, the film itself could have possibly not been as entertaining as it ends up being. Mike Myers is in almost every scene of the film and he clearly stands out.

Mike Myers not only plays Austin Powers, but he takes up the character of Dr. Evil as well. Now, any James Bond fan would notice that Dr. Evil is a mixture of the villains Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Dr. No. Dr. Evil has a cat in which he pets every so often on his lap and he wears an outfit similar to the one Dr. No wore.

This film is clever in all sorts of ways, it spoofs many classic scenes and quotes from the James Bond films. The spoofs in the film are also done extremely well and are almost entirely correct in references with the Bond films. This film also has jokes on more than enough bond films, from Dr. No up until Moonraker.

What makes the film itself work is the fact that it not only spoofs on the bond films, but it also takes on its own originality. Audiences that are unfamiliar with Bond will still have a good time with this film because on its own its a good comedy film. If you don't understand what they are attempting to joke about, you will still come out with chuckles because its mostly the characters and how they act that makes the comedy great.

The film even has its share of the sexual innuendo type names that Bond films have. Alotta Fagina is a woman's name which is clearly comedic to Pussy Galore from Goldfinger. I do not know that much background on Mike Myers, but I'm sure he's a fan of the bond series as we all should be.

Taking the role of the "bond girl" is Elizabeth Hurley and she plays Vanessa Kensington. She was great alongside Mike Myers and they make quite a fun and humorous couple. As always, bond which is Austin Powers should always be ahead and the leader over the bond girl which is Vanessa Kensington. Austin Powers plays that out very well and leaves Mike Myers to deliver the comedy.

Another process that was ingenious as far as spoofing goes was the fact of the one-liners. There is a scene in Austin Powers in which a deadly fish bites off the head of a villain and Mike Myers cleverly delivers more than enough one-liners. You have to see for yourself to get the picture of what I am saying.

Not only that, but other quotes are so great and funny about the bond films. There are quotes in Austin Powers that are very true about the bond films and it even makes for more out loud laughs. A quote involving Dr. Evil saying something along the lines of an easily escapable situation is easily one of the best quotes in the film. And the film comes very well together because Austin Powers sets its own tone in the film as well and the character Austin uses very odd words such as "Yeah Baby" "Groovy" "Shagadelic" "Mojo" and many more that are original and very well accomplished all together.

This film simply hit all the jackpots it needed in a spoof. When a film such as Austin Powers entertains you and has a somewhat intelligent story all combined into one package, then you know its solidly well done. Austin Powers works even more for bond fans than just regular non-bond viewers. I myself am a big bond fan and the film is a great treat from start to finish, definitely a comedy and spoof to be remembered.