- Adorkable:
- Doctor Evil, very much so. He can be quite awkward, but he is charming nonetheless.
- Number Three comes off as endearing for trying ever so hard to pretend not to notice all the attention drawn to his mole. Especially when pointing out that he's aware of the irony of the guy with the mole being The Mole.
- Alternative Character Interpretation:
- When Dr. Evil goes to the past and mentions ideas that happen to be the same as something popular in the future, are these just coincidences, or is he actually aware of them but taking credit since his minions in the past do not know about them yet? Though, given Scott calls him out on several things in this regard - like naming something The Alan Parsons Project - it seems likely he was given a similar crash course for the modern day as Austin, so the latter.
- Did Austin see Vanessa as a Replacement Goldfish for her mother, his former partner Mrs. Kensington? There seemed to be some Unresolved Sexual Tension when Vanessa asked both of them how they felt about each other.
- What was Nigel's exact reasoning for hardly being there for Austin his whole life and how did Austin's twin brother Dr. Evil factor into it? Was Nigel looking for Dr. Evil for years? Was he too caught up in his own spy games? Was the shame of being unable to prevent Dr. Evil from going to a life of crime too much for him that he felt that failure meant the desire to distance himself from Austin to protect him?
- Aluminum Christmas Trees: The President comes very close to blowing up the moon rather than pay Dr. Evil's inflated ransom ("Would you miss it?"). The United States Air Force actually considered nuking the moon to intimidate the Soviets.
- Angst? What Angst?: Austin doesn't even particularly seem to care that Vanessa was a Fembot and is now dead. He's a swinger! He doesn't seem to care all that much when Basil admits that they suspected it all along, and then quickly changes the subject and never mentions it again. Rule of Funny is obviously in play for this one.
- Ass Pull: A deliberately tongue-in-cheek example from the sequel; Vanessa being a Fembot comes completely out of nowhere and clearly makes no sense at all. The film practically lampshades how it's obviously making this up so Austin can be single again, justifying it with copious amounts of Rule of Funny. After all, it's not like any of James Bond's squeezes ever made a return appearance.note
- Awesome Music:
- George S. Clinton's music for all three movies is a loving homage of the John Barry Bond scores, including a fantastic villainous theme for Dr. Evil.
- "Soul Bossa Nova."
- "Austin Powers" by the Wondermints for the first movie; sadly, very little of it gets heard. It can be heard in all its glory on the soundtrack album
, and holds up really well years later. - From the second film; There Might Be Giants' parody of Bond Villain Song s "Dr. Evil."
- There's also rapper Ludacris's 2004 song "Number One Spot", which not only samples the series' intro theme, but also includes several references to the series. The music video puts Luda directly into all of Myers's roles and co-stars Verne Troyer as Mini-Me, with a cameo by Quincy Jones in the beginning requesting Ludacris put a new spin on "Soul Bossa Nova.""In court I never show up like Austin Powers's fah-za/Father, father and hey I love gooooold."
- Don't forget Madonna's darkly mesmorizing "Beautiful Stranger", which served as the unofficial theme to the second movie. Oddly ironic considering that her contribution to a real Bond movie was much less warmly well-received.
- The third film also has "What's it all about, Austin?"
a cover of the title song from Alfie originally meant for a musical number that was sadly cut from the final film, though it can still be heard in the end credits.
- Base-Breaking Character: Foxxy Cleopatra. Some love her for being a Sassy Black Woman and for being portrayed by Beyoncé, who didn't get captured once in the film, unlike the other two love interests. Others hate her for having no chemistry, romantic or otherwise, with Powers (unlike her predecessors) and for being one of the worst examples of an Affirmative Action Girl ever.
- Corpsing: Vanessa during the segment on the Swedish penis enlarger.
- Critical Dissonance: Although it has its fans, most fans would agree that the third film was a step down from the first two films, given its more serious tone, the 70s not being nearly as iconic as the 60s note and the unpopularity of Goldmember and Foxxy. However, it still made the most money at the box-office and is the highest rated of the three films on Metacritic.
- Crosses the Line Twice:
- Dr. Evil's Hilariously Abusive Childhood backstory that he talks about during the group therapy scene in the first film would be horrifying in any other context, but since it's Dr. Evil, it's funny as fuck.
- Dr. Evil and Scott doing on The Jerry Springer Show at the beginning of the second film - the whole segment is dedicated specifically to "evil fathers", with Scott and Dr. Evil being on the show alongside a klansman and a Neo-Nazi, of all things. Then Dr. Evil gets into a fistfight with the klansman (per usual for The Jerry Springer Show), and when Springer tries to calm things down, Dr. Evil then tries beating him up after Springer insults him, culminating in Springer biting Dr. Evil's ankle.
- The death of one of Doctor Evil's henchman under a steamroller would be horrifying... if he hadn't stood in place for what seems like a full minute screaming Big Nos while the machine sloooooooowly approaches him (and is played by MADtv (1995)'s Michael McDonald, who's making the absolute most of his brief performance).
- Director Displacement: The films are better known as the work of Mike Myers, who wrote and starred in them, than Jay Roach, who directed.
- Discredited Meme: Just about every joke and catchphrase was repeated by everyone and their grandparents so much in the late 1990’s that they have become painfully overplayed.
- Easily Forgiven: Number 2 is still somehow in Dr. Evil's good graces despite trying to kill him at the end of the first movie.
- First Installment Wins: The sequels were a lot more successful at the box office. However, they relied heavily on cameos, wacky characters, and now dated pop culture references, whereas the original is a spoof of the '60s spy film genre and holds up very well even today.
- Fountain of Memes: Any character played by Mike Myers (Austin himself, Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard, and, to a lesser extent, Goldmember) is very quotable.
- Genius Bonus:
- International Man of Mystery is a direct spoof of 60s spy movies in the same way a movie like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a music biopic spoof. As a result, the more you know about James Bond tropes and films of that ilk, the funnier International Man of Mystery is, as it's quite clear through the production notes and commentary that Myers and his crew are vastly knowledgeable about that culture and root much of the film's humor in it.
- Nigel’s disdain for the Dutch while proclaiming his love of tolerance was likely intended to be extra ironic because the Dutch Republic was famously very tolerant for Early Modern Europe. This tolerance is why various religious minorities, including Jews and some Puritans, chose to live there.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The Spy Who Shagged Me is considered a cult classic in Spain, thanks primarily to its Superlative Dubbing, which cast famous comedian Florentino "Flo" Fernandez to voice all characters played by Myers, and he adapted them to his particular sense of humor, making the entire film particularly funny for Spaniard audiences. Although Flo came back in the same capacity in Goldmember, given that entry was hit the hardest by Sequelitis, The Spy Who Shagged Me is the most fondly remembered entry in the series in Spain by country mile.
- Harsher in Hindsight: See here.
- He's Just Hiding:
- Mustafa's Made of Iron nature leaves some people convinced he may have survived his You Have Failed Me execution.
- Many fans of the first movie are convinced that not only was Vanessa only replaced with a fembot between films, but that the real Vanessa is still out there, waiting to escape or be rescued.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: See here.
- Ho Yay: Doctor Evil and Mini-Me. Given that Mini-Me is Doctor Evil's near-exact duplicate, this might just be demonstrative of his vanity.
- Iron Woobie: Austin is an ace at what he does, but the films show that beneath his awesome and funny exterior he's actually a broken, lonely man. He wakes up 30 years in the future where everything has changed beyond recognition and most of the people he knows are either dead or have moved on. Losing his mojo made him afraid of disappointing a woman he felt a connection with. His father doesn't care about any of his achievements. Despite his angst, he persists for the greater good and proves himself to be the best no matter what's troubling him.
- Jerkass Woobie: Fat Bastard. He may be a rude, disgusting asshole, but it's not really his fault he's so gross (for the most part), as he can't stop eating, and near the end of the second movie he even admits how miserable he is. At the end of the third movie, he finally manages to lose weight and stops being a villain.
- Magnificent Bastard: While Dr. Evil himself misses no chance to delve into Bond Villain Stupidity, many of his subordinates operate brilliantly:
- Number Two is Dr. Evil's aptly-named, far more competent right-hand man. Managing the business front of Evil's empire while his boss is cryogenically frozen in space, Number Two expands the operation to a multibillion dollar national corporation. Surviving his seeming death due to oversight in the first film, Number Two is kept on by Evil likely for his effectiveness and provides reconnaissance, capturing Austin Powers while the doctor concocts his latest goofy scheme. Forming an effective Hollywood talent agency by undercutting the competition's prices, Number Two eventually joins Dr. Evil in turning to good after being touched by Evil's reunion with his long-lost father Nigel Powers.
- Frau Farbissina is Dr. Evil's hammy head scientist, and one of the only members of his organization he genuinely respects. The founder of the militant wing of the Salvation Army, Frau oversees the creation of the Fembots, who have the ability to seduce men into dropping their guard and easily killing them. Using them to try to kill Austin Powers, it's later revealed that Frau and Dr. Evil created his wife Vanessa to kill Austin when he leasts suspects it. Dearly devoted to Dr. Evil, while very protective of her son Scott Evil, Frau does what she can to help her boss in his schemes.
- International Man of Mystery: Alotta Fagina poses as the Sexy Secretary of Number Two. When Austin sneaks into her penthouse to uncover Dr. Evil's plans, she seduces him, uncovering his true identity to let Evil catch him and even after Austin disables Evil's apocalyptic drill, captures Vanessa, nearly forcing him to allow for Evil's escape.
- Memetic Mutation: Plenty, here.
- "Who throws a shoe? Honestly!", especially after this incident
.
- "Who throws a shoe? Honestly!", especially after this incident
- Moral Event Horizon: Goldmember already has a somewhat misguided compass but he crosses it in response to Dr. Evil's Heel–Face Turn. He puts Preparation H back in motion, holds Foxxy Cleopatra hostage and shoots at Austin and Dr. Evil when they attempt to thwart him turning on the tractor beam.
- Most Wonderful Sound: Tony Jay's narration at the beginning of the second film.
- Nightmare Fuel:
- The Jump Scare of Mini-Me ambushing Austin in The Spy Who Shagged Me.
- The sight of the guard's decapitated neck after his head is eaten by Dr. Evil's mutant bass in International Man of Mystery. In such a goofy and lighthearted movie, it's immensely out of place. Austin gives an understandably disgusted grunt upon seeing it.
- Older Than They Think:
- The Austin Powers character (or at least his name and appearance) actually predates the movies. Austin Powers was originally Myers' stage name when he played in a 1960s themed band called Ming Tea.
- The disco remix of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in Goldmember was not created for the film as some younger viewers initially thought. It was actually a song from the era, "A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy, which was previously used on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever. The song has continued its popularity, thanks to this movie and being featured in LittleBigPlanet and Family Guy, the latter of which Murphy is the in-house composer for.
- The "Goldmember" joke was already thought by Ian Fleming himself. When architect Erno Goldfinger learned he used his name and likeness for the villain of his latest story, he threatened to sue, and Fleming suggested to instead change his name to "Goldprick". More on that episode here
. - "Nothing's more pathetic than an aging hipster" is a paraphrase of a line from Lenny Bruce, "Nothing's sadder than an old hipster."
- A couple bits actually originated on Saturday Night Live first (specifically the "Theater Stories" sketch): "I'm having trouble controlling THE VOLUME OF MY VOICE!" and "What the French call a certain... I don't know what."
- One-Scene Wonder:
- Will Ferrell as Mustafa, across both movies.
- Nathan Lane in Goldmember.
- Aaron Himelstein and Josh Zuckerman are impeccable as the young Austin and Dr. Evil in Goldmember, despite only being in the film for a few minutes.
- Overshadowed by Controversy: Not the films themselves, but one of the characters, Random Task from Man of Mystery. Nowadays, more people associate him with the convictions
brought against his actor, Joe Son, rather than him being a simple gag character due to how horrific they are. - Presumed Flop: Goldmember is widely considered the weakest in the trilogy and has a reputation as a Franchise Killer, yet was just as successful as The Spy Who Shagged Me, earning more money domestically and only slightly less worldwide. It also has the highest Metacritic score. The real reason why there was never a fourth film was because Mike Myers wanted to make The Love Guru — which was a major critical and commercial failure, and proved to be a Star-Derailing Role for him.
- The Problem with Licensed Games:
- The Spy Who Shagged Me received two tie-in games for, oddly enough, the Game Boy Color. Developed by Rockstar Games of all companies. Both of them were bland, boring Minigame Games that utilized a mock computer desktop format, which really didn't work with the smaller screen and controls of the system.
- Austin Powers Pinball, one of the later releases for the original PlayStation. It was clearly made as cheaply as possible, and has SNES-level graphics and Loads and Loads of Loading. Also, there's no table based on Goldmember despite being out three months prior to the game's release.
- Retroactive Recognition:
- In the Rent-a-Zilla scene from the third movie, there's a cameo by Masi Oka - now with all the time-travel involved, where was Hiro Nakamura when you needed him? The other guy in the scene is Brian Tee.
- Kevin Durand of Lost and X-Men Origins: Wolverine as Robin Swallow's henchman in the second movie.
- The woman asking Woody Harrelson for an autograph (even though Harrelson would've been eight years old in 1969) is played by Rachel Wilson, who would go onto voice Heather.
- The Scrappy: Goldmember. Most fans see him as little more than a half-baked attempt to capitalise on Fat Bastard's fanbase. He also doesn't contribute anything to the third film that couldn't have been carried out by Dr Evil or Scott. Mike Myers even says in the commentary that he has no memory of playing the character. However, he has gained a small amount of popularity in recent years, turning him into a [1]
- "Seinfeld" Is Unfunny: While Austin Powers wasn't the first comedy film to use an Overly Long Gag note , it was one of the first to primarily derive its humor from it. At the time it came out, it really was something new and unique. Now that the Overly Long Gag has become a staple of comedies, it's become harder to see why Austin Powers was treated as such a big deal in the 90's.
- Sequelitis: The first movie was very popular at the time of its release and did reasonably well critically. The sequels are more contentious, with some labeling them as boring retreads while others enjoy a continuation of the first movie's style. The movies themselves actually invoke this for humour, with Ozzy Osbourne and his family making a cameo in the third film complaining about the very film they are in reusing the old jokes.
- Special Effects Failure:
- Done intentionally. We have obvious rear screen projection for the driving scenes, obvious stock footage for Dr. Evil's lair exploding in the first film and also in the first film, when the guard gets his head bitten off by
a sharkan ill-tempered mutated sea bass, it is obviously a dummy. In the opening Utah scene for the third film, it is obviously a backdrop. Far more evidently in Fat Bastard's "Ultimate wire-frame maneuver" later on in that film. - In a more straightforward example, the air hose keeping the Fat Bastard suit inflated is clearly visible when he rolls onto Felicity in the second film.
- Done intentionally. We have obvious rear screen projection for the driving scenes, obvious stock footage for Dr. Evil's lair exploding in the first film and also in the first film, when the guard gets his head bitten off by
- Spiritual Successor: The films follow in the footsteps of the James Bond spoofs of the 1960s, particularly Our Man Flint and Casino Royale (1967).
- Squick:
- Austin mentions not using protection when he shags. Keep in mind he's very promiscuous.
- Austin drinking Fat Bastard's diarrhea, getting some of it on his upper lip and saying "it's a bit nutty" without a care in the world.
- Just about everything involving Fat Bastard, really...
- Goldmember peeling his own skin off and either collecting or eating it.
- Foxxy mentions having a fling with Austin about 8 years prior to their reunion in Goldmember. Beyoncé was only 20 when she was cast, so if Foxxy is meant to be the same age as her then...
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Goldmember had a bad habit of not using its characters to their full potential. The titular Goldmember doesn't actually become the Big Bad until the last few minutes, Foxxy's romance with Austin is sidelined in favour of showing him making peace with his father (defeating the whole purpose of replacing Felicity), the Mole only gets a few seconds of screentime with Dr. Evil before he's revealed to be a double agent and Number Two and Frau are Demoted to Extra.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Goldmember was meant to introduce a new nemesis for Austin Powers, but rather than go with either the titular Goldmember or the now-evil Scott, the film tried to use both while still having Dr. Evil carry most of the conflict.
- Unintentional Period Piece: While the series itself is homage to 60's spy movies, the first film is generally rooted in 90's when it marked the end of Cold War. One such example is when a member of British Ministry of Defense told Austin about the Russians being on their side after Cold War, which was relevant as the Cold War saw a potential alliance between Russia and the West until their relations deteriorated after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and even more so after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
- Values Dissonance:
- Mustafa. Having a white actor in brownface no matter what context would obviously not fly today.
- The opening scene from The Spy Who Shagged Me where Austin is strutting around a resort in the nude, startling several women along the way doesn't seem as innocent as it used to with indecent exposure being taken much more seriously.
- Values Resonance: In recent years, having sex with an intoxicated person while one party is sober has become a hot-button issue, but back in the late '90s, it wasn't as controversial. In the '60s, people were even more loose about consent. So Austin — a guy from the '60s and is now living in the 90s — refusing to have sex with an intoxicated Vanessa when she comes on to him, is incredibly refreshing to see.
- Vindicated by History: The second and third films have embraced far warmer reception by the 2010s and early 2020s with most now seeing them as worthy follow-ups (even if not as strong as the first film) rather than the cheap cash grabs they had been previously seen as.
- What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: The films seem to suffer from this greatly, being filled to the brim with sexual innuendo and the second film having the word "shag" (British slang term meaning "to have sex with") right in the title. Not only that, the third movie actually won an award for Favorite Movie at the 2003 Kids' Choice Awards.
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