The original: 

Austin Powers trilogy (1997 - 2002)

​

Directed by: 

Jay Roach (Meet the Parents, Trumbo, Bombshell) 

​

Starring: 

Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Heather Graham, Beyonce Knowles;

with Michael York, Robert Wagner, Mindy Sterling, Seth Green, Verne Troyer, Rob Lowe, Will Ferrell, Paul Dillion and Michael Caine

​

​

Iconic, immensely quotable, and forever a part of the pop-culture, Austin Powers the series and man himself is fast, silly, slick, and very funny.

 

After Wayne, before Shrek, Mike Myers delivered at least two classic characters for the ages in Powers and Dr Evil, as well as a plethora of side characters, performances, catch-phrases and sight gags that look to remain high in the pop-culture hierarchy for years to come.

 

The films of course act as part Bond pastiche, lampooning many troupes and cliches from that series, as well as drawing heavily from the Bond knock-offs of the 60s and 70s, such as the Flynt series and Jason King.

 

The films also serve as a love letter to the iconography of 60s England- from A Hard Day’s Night to mods, rockers, psychedelia and free love.

 

The films lean into stretching jokes to their breaking points, as well as having a heavy hit and miss rate- however the sheer rapidity of the jokes ensure more hits than misses, displaying a deep ingenuity in sight gags and word play.

 

Some characters work better than others, indeed some jokes work better than others too, but the character of Austin is as far from cynical as you can get, displaying a sweet natured, big-hearted feel-good comedy series that ultimately spreads the 60s vibe- 

Love, not war; peace, not hate; sex, not dentists.

 

​

Basil- “Austin, the Cold War is over!”

Austin- “Finally those capitalist pigs will pay for their crimes, eh comrades?”

Basil- “Austin, we won.”

Austin- ”Oh, smashing, groovy; yay capitalism!”

 

 

Vanessa- “Mr. Powers, my job is to acclimatise you to the nineties. You know, a lot's changed since 1967.”

Austin- “No doubt, love, but as long as people are still having promiscuous sex with many anonymous partners without protection while at the same time experimenting with mind-expanding drugs in a consequence-free environment, I'll be sound as a pound!”

 

 

Dr Evil- “The details of my life are quite inconsequential... Very well, where do I begin?

My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet.

My father would womanise, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament.

My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets.

When I was insolent, I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard, really.

At the age of twelve, I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I suggest you try it.”