Austin Powers in Goldmember

Mike Meyers initially didn't want it to get made. He claimed for the longest time that he just didn't have a good idea for the storyline and that if he didn't get one he wouldn't waste his time. Then all of a sudden, he gets an idea, claims that it's the best idea he's ever had. That this will be the best film of the trilogy. And now that it's completed, he claims that its the best film of the trilogy. What's new? Once again, movie marketing at its most loathesome.

But I should not be so cynical. While it's clearly not the best of the trilogy, Austin 3 has a lot to enjoy. I'd say it's about on par with The Spy Who Shagged Me, the second film in the series. Both, however, don't come close to the inspired comedy of the first. This third film still uses bathroom humor too much as the primary comedic device, but thankfully nothing is as pointlessly raunchy as the scene in the second where he gulps down yesterday's fully digested meals.

There are a couple of scenes that rank amongst of the funniest of the entire series. The cameo-filled beginning was so suprising and delightful that I couldn't stop laughing. The musical romp through the jail was cleverly written and executed. And don't forget the misinformed attack on he-who-is-short-and-scary.

But alas, too many of the jokes are recycled from the previous films. There's too much wink-wink connotations to the second and first film that it sometimes gets tiresome. And the characters that Meyers and director Jay Roach create this time are boring and uninteresting. It's only the having-fun performance of Beyonce Knowles that keeps her Foxy Cleopatra from becoming awful. And the new evil nemesis, the appropriately named Goldmember, is given far too small of a role to be interesting, let alone the title character.

Mike Meyers has moments of gold and they're pleasing to see. Austin Powers is a character impossible to hate. And because of this we'll probably have several more films about him down the road. But now it will take some creativity because of the horrific, character destroying conclusion to this film. And please, Mike Meyers, stop claiming that each new film of the series is the best yet. We're not that dumb. We can see that, even though still enjoyable, it's clearly not.

On a scale of 1 to 10 cynical film critics : 6