Starring: Mike Myers, Beyonc� Knowles, Michael Caine, Seth Green, Verne Troyer.
Directed by: Jay Roach

The highly anticipated Austin Powers in Goldmember looked very funny in its trailers.; new characters, new era, plus returning favourites from previous instalments in the series. And while it is pretty funny, it just doesn�t stand up to the first two.

If you don't know Mike Myers�s Austin character, then you've been living under a rock under an even larger rock. He plays a time-travelling, swingin', shaggin' British secret service agent, always tring to foil his arch nemesis, Dr. Evil (also Myers). The second movie, Austin Power: The Spy who Shagged Me brought new characters, like Fat Bastard (Myers again) and Mini-Me (Troyer) into the fold, recycling the best jokes from the first, while adding a new kick in the pants. Somehow, it still managed to be clever and, more importantly, extremely funny.

Now comes Austin Powers in Goldmember and what can I say? They try doing to same thing again but this time, it's irrelevant. There are references to the first 2 movies, and we find out more about Dr. Evil parents, but we've seen the gags before in this very series. Heck, they even make jokes about re-doing the same material. And when the best laughs come from surprise cameos (and there are lots of them), that's not a good sign. Nevertheless, the movie does become pretty damn funny, once they have to establish a "plot" (something about Dr. Evil flooding the world). It really picks up once Dr. Evil and Mini-Me are in prison, singing "It's a Hard-Knock Life". Before that though, the movie is pretty lame. After that point we get to the funny stuff. 20 year old movie newcomer (and Destiny's Child's singer) Beyonc� Knowles provides the eye candy as Foxxy Cleopatra, a sassy, 70s Blaxploitation spoof, who somehow hooks up with Austin to fight evil. Michael Caine is just great as Austin's spy dad and Myers adds a 4^th character under his belt, playing the title character of Goldmember, a dude from Holland with junk of gold.

You may think, "Wow! This sounds great." And it does, but when you actually see, it, you're wondering why you're not laughing as hard as you should. The first movie was fresh and new. It was a small movie that didn't make much money in the theatres, earning a loyal video following. It was a clever, fish-out-of-water movie, sometimes poignant and most importantly, fall-down funny. The second, despite its rehashed jokes, somehow was funnier than the first, except without the newness of the original. But fans were so starved for new Austin material, they goggled it up. The third now comes and we realize that the freshness is gone. It's not new anymore. Sure, the gags are there, but the soul isn't. While not up to the standards of the first two in the series, Goldmember is still pretty funny, and is worth seeing if you're a fan. Just don�t expect it to collect many converts to the series.

DroopyMcC
Ten