Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Is Still Hilarious 25 Years Later
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me turns a groovy 25 this week, baby! We’re celebrating with a list of our favorite moments from Mike Myers‘ shagadelic comedy classic. Check your mojo, grab some nuts, and take a madcap leap back to the swingin’ 90s! If you’ve never seen or heard about Austin Powers (shame on you!), here’s a brief refresher.
The original film, titled Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, was released in 1997 to ho-hum box office and critical success but gained enough momentum on VHS (rectangular pieces of plastic one would insert into a “video cassette player,” requiring users to fast forward through trailers and “be kind, rewind” before returning it to Blockbuster) to warrant a sequel.
The Spy Who Shagged Me zipped into theaters a few years later and went on to gross an astounding $312M against a $33M budget. Essentially a parody of the James Bond franchise, Austin Powers features Myers in a double act as the titular spy and his archnemesis, Dr. Evil. He likewise appears as Fat Bastard and Goldmember in later films. International Man of Mystery sees Austin cryogenically frozen for 30 friggin’ years, awakening in 1997 to stop Dr. Evil from carrying out his latest dastardly deed. The Spy Who Shagged Me follows the same template but sends Austin back to the swingin’ 60s to rendezvous with the lovely Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham) to regain his mojo and stop Dr. Evil once and for all.
A third film, Austin Powers in Goldmember, featuring Beyonce Knowles’ film debut, hit theaters in 2002 and grossed $296.7 million.
The Best Austin Power: The Spy Who Shagged Me Scenes
Dr. Evil Appears on Jerry Springer
In an age dominated by cheesy daytime talk shows, Jerry Springer takes the crown as the de facto champion of trash television. Naturally, Mike Myers couldn’t pass on the opportunity to feature the smug bastard and uses the show to re-introduce Dr. Evil and his not-so-evil son Scott (Seth Green). The gag immediately dates The Spy Who Shagged Me but not in a bad way. Austin, for all his 60s flavor, is very much a product of the 1990s. Rewatching these films is like warping to a bygone era where pop culture (and nearly everyone involved with Austin Powers) likely hit its peak.
Dr. Evil’s Spaceship
One of the best gags in the Austin Powers franchise involves a batch of characters taking turns identifying an object—in this case, Dr. Evil’s spaceship—that looks like, a, well, certain appendage. Except, no one actually describes it as such. Instead, the scene cuts just before they say their line, allowing another character to finish the sentence, albeit completely out of context. Now I’ve just gone cross-eyed. Just watch the clip.
The Tent Scene
Another great scene shows Austin and Felicity searching for items inside a tent. The dim lighting inside the tent casts their actions in shadows, making them look peculiar to onlookers. My wife calls this scene dumb, but I think it’s comedy gold.
Fat Bastard
As great as Austin and Dr. Evil are, the character that ultimately defines The Spy Who Shagged Me is Fat Bastard. Myers donned an absurd amount of prosthetics and adorned the big guy with a kilt and a thick Scottish accent, resulting in one of the most memorable villains of all time. The “Baby Back Ribs” bit is as hilarious today as in 1999.
Mini-Me
Another classic character from the sequel is Dr. Evil’s pint-sized closed Mini-Me. Portrayed by the late Verne Troyer, this evil-doer practically steals the show with his feral disposition and downright hatred of Scott Evil. Nearly every scene with Mini-Me elicits a laugh, so I’m just gonna go with this compilation to ensure I don’t miss any of his best bits.
Rotating Chair Scene
The moment that always leaves me in stitches involves Dr. Evil dealing with a malfunctioning chair. The bit comes out of nowhere and gives Myers plenty of opportunity to improvise some choice lines of dialogue: “I need an old priest and a young priest,” he yells. “The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you.” Good lord, I love this movie.
Zip It
Finally, another great scene shows Dr. Evil playing “zip it” with his son, Scott. Any time Scott tries to speak, his dad shushes him with a variation on “zip it.” Myers deploys the gag in all three films, and somehow, it works every time.
Those are my favorite moments from the film, but there are many others. I contemplated posting the entire movie because, well, every scene contains hilarious antics — we haven’t even dug into Frau (Mindy Sterling), Mustafa (Will Ferrell), or Richard Nixon (Tim Robbins)! Yup, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is still a genuine comedy classic that you should watch today.
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