Austin Powers Goldmember DIVX Review

Austin Powers (AP) movies aren't expected to be normal comedies. Their success comes from their difference, built on ridiculous jokes, completely irrational twists, omnipresent music and a total dependency on Mike Myers, who plays the two main characters (Austin, the agent; and Dr. Evil, the criminal).

On its 3rd iteration - titled "Goldmember" - Myers also plays "FatBastard", and the "Goldmember" baddy. All these characters are relatively easy to spot as Myers', except for "FatBastard" who indeed looks different enough to resist the "Where is Wally" (read Myers) test.

The weakness of the AP formula is that when the first movie debuted, its humor was fresh and outrageous enough to build a new comedy genre, but already then it was expected that it would be extremely hard to repeat the score.
However, "The Spy Who Shagged Me", the 2nd movie on the series, features very cheap but very effective laughs, that work like a charm with most audiences!

Unfortunately, half of the 3rd Austin Powers is spent on searching for "alternative laughs", which aren't that effective. Except for the first 5 minutes, AP3's first half is dead boring. It all starts with Tom Cruise (playing Austin!), Danny deVito (playing Evil!), Spielberg (directing!), and other Hollywood sharks who manage to surprise you, until the cameo drains from the portrayed Cinema stage, to the spectators, where we find the "real" Powers, entertained.

Poor Powers will be less happy on a more relevant occasion, when he notices his father's absence, on a ceremony where the Queen recognizes his great services to the nation. His father is missing, and about to be kidnapped. This time, the real bad guy is "Goldmember", who is trying to destroy the Planet with a meteor, and shielding himself from Powers, using Michael Caine (AP's dad) as a literal daddy-shield figure. This is the plot: Myers must save the day, defeating "Goldmember", but his dad is on middle.

AP3 will bore you, but just when you thought all was lost, the toilet humor gets back, with the "tits menace", the "fuk mi" and "fuk u" sisters, and a top scene, where Mini-Me and Austin go head-over-heels on a medical check-up.

For short, the latest Austin Powers flick is entertaining, it respects the formula, but is unbalanced and that might cost some followers.

My DIVX file came from i-cant-tell-you-where, and was of "reasonable" quality, for a DVD-Rip. Note that AP3 is a moderate challenge to any digital video codec, due to its very strong use of color and punctual elaborate choreographies.