Austin Powers in Goldmember
Starring Mike Meyers,
Beyonce Knowles

Directed by Jay Roach
PG-13

**3/4 out of 4 Stars

Released July 25, 2002

Running time: 94 minutes

**3/4

by Kevin Lang

Pop culture's poster child, MTV, produced the third and latest Austin Powers installment, which quickly became obvious not far into the film. The plot was injected with doses of over publicized images of this culture that we see enough of on magazine covers and television, especially MTV. This included brief scenes with Britney Spears and the over exposed Osbourne family, who although funny in the film, somewhat polluted the unique world of Austin Powers that had existed in the previous installments. Instead of Austin (Mike Meyers) in his own "shagadelic" culture, in Goldmember he was brought into our world, which as a result detracted from and clouded the film's mojo (the essence of Austin Powers).

Jay Roach, who directed the previous two Austin Powers films as well as 2000's "Meet the Parents" (and its upcoming sequel "Meet the Fockers," 2003), did a fairly admirable job with the script he had to work with, even though much of the humor was rehashed from the previous films. This included such scenes as the tent silhouette scene from The Spy Who Shagged Me. It was funny to see it redone in a different setting for this film, but we are conscious that we've seen it before. Hopefully Roach has found new humor for his upcoming "Meet the Fockers." This isn't to say that Goldmember wasn't enjoyable.

The beginning of the film garnered the loudest laughs and applause from an audience that I've heard in quite some time, and from then on the movie played like a marathon runner who starts off sprinting and in the lead; but ends up finishing in the middle or closer to the average. There were many moments that amused me in the film, and I found myself laughing out loud more often than in most comedies of late. However, Goldmember's biggest downfall was its lack of a plot that would not only hold our interest, but entertain us as well.

This installment had the Man of Mystery trying to stop Dr. Evil and company, which included Meyers again. This time in the character of Goldmember, a skin shedding seventies disco criminal who lived up to his name, which is all I will say. The Evil plan was to crash a meteor made of gold into a polar ice cap, and as a result, flood the earth.

To stop the end of the world Austin was joined by hip-hop singer Beyonce Knowles, who played Foxy Cleopatra. Even her revealing outfits and overflowing chest did little to enhance her performance, which was flat and lacked the character that previous Power's girls have managed to bring to the screen. However, this seemed to be more the fault of the script, which failed to create a substantial character for Knowles to work from. Instead of developing with the film, the character of Foxy only seemed to exist to occupy the space of what has become a required element of an Austin Powers film, the overly attractive female spy.

Make sure to keep an eye open for the film's cameos, which are priceless, and since some of the film's funniest moments happen in the first five minutes, don't be late or you'll miss what will be most talked about afterwards.

I may have been too harsh on the new Austin Powers film, pitting what it offered in humor against what it lacked in plot. After all, it was a comedy and it successfully fulfilled the purpose of a comedy, which is to make us laugh. What the film did offer were many enjoyable moments of humor that were just that, moments, surrounded by a story that failed to tie those moments together. The humor did keep me engaged in the film, and I was almost brought to laughter in practically every other scene. Yet, the film would have been even more effective with a concrete story behind it, one that left Austin in his own unique world without having to be flooded with reminders of what we see on gossip shows everday (while flipping through the channels of course). In concluding, Goldmember was straight comedy served without much of a story, but it was still for the most part, satisfying in the end.