Empire’s 30th Anniversary – The One That Got Away: Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

by Chris Hewitt |
Published on

For our 30th Anniversary Special Edition issue, we picked the 30 films from the last 30 years that have defined Empire’s lifetime, but some favourites didn’t quite make the cut. Chris Hewitt argues the case for Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery.

In the eternal argument that is ‘which year was the best ever for movies?’, 1997 might often get overlooked in favour of some of the heavier hitters, like 1941 (Citizen Kane! The Maltese Falcon! Dumbo! Sullivan’s Travels!), 1984 (Ghostbusters! Gremlins! The Terminator! A Nightmare On Elm Street!) or 1999 (seriously, look it up — that year was crazy). But for me, 1997 will always have a special place in my heart.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

I was at university, and going to the cinema a lot. And I fell in love with much of what I saw that year. (It’s also the year of Batman & Robin, possibly the worst big-budget film of all time, so let’s not pretend that there was something in the water.) Virtually any of which would have been worthy of their own cover. There’s the prestige one, L.A. Confidential. The daft Nic Cage actioner, Con Air. The other daft Nic Cage actioner, Face/Off. The endlessly quotable Grosse Pointe Blank. The spry sci-fi fun of The Fifth Element. And don’t even get me started on Event Horizon, a horror film which wormed its way into my brain and has refused to leave for two decades.

I don’t recall ever being so joyously blindsided by a film.

But my One That Got Away is a comedy, a genre I feel is constantly overlooked, not least in our collection of films that define our 30 years. Out of 30, only Bridesmaids can be considered an out-and-out comedy. Shaun Of The Dead is a horror comedy. Toy Story is, y’know, for kids. Otherwise, though, comedy has been ignored by Team Empire. No Anchorman. No Dodgeball. No Hot Rod. Or Hot Fuzz.

I could have gone for any of those. Yet I’ve plumped Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, aka the funniest film of 1997. And for a year that contained Batnipples and the Batcreditcard (don’t leave the Batcave without it), that’s saying something. I don’t recall ever being so joyously blindsided by a film. I’d seen the trailers, of course, and as something of a Mike Myers fan, was quite looking forward to it when I rocked up with my mates at the Odeon in York. But I didn’t expect to laugh so hard that I had to pick myself off the floor. Twice. (The ‘they’re always after me lucky charms’ gag and the moment where Austin battles an assassin in a toilet cubicle, making it sound for all the world like he’s having a massive shit, in case you were wondering.)

For all his versatility and ability to play different characters, Myers’ schtick – a penchant for muggery, if you will — grew pretty old by the time the execrable The Love Guru rolled around in 2008. But in the first Austin Powers, we got to see a genius-level comedian at the height of his powers, creating two distinct characters in Austin Powers and Dr. Evil. There’s a moment, in the brilliant group therapy session, where Myers, as Dr. Evil, communicates pride in his son, Scott, before remembering that he’s evil, and therefore he should sneer at him instead. And he does it all with just a look. It’s, for my money, the single greatest piece of comedic acting in the history of movies. Peter Sellers, eat your heart out.

But there’s more. A bombardment of gags of all shapes and sizes, at a rate that would give Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker a run for their money. An anything goes attitude that allows cameos from the likes of Christian Slater and Carrie Fisher, not to mention a musical interlude from Burt Bacharach.

But there’s real comedic artistry at play here. This is the movie that had been playing in Myers’ head for years, a love letter to his British heritage and the movies and music he had grown up on in Canada. It would have been all too easy for him to improvise like hell and figure it out in the editing room with Jay Roach, but ideas like the sad fate of anonymous henchmen and Dr. Evil’s obsession with frickin’ sharks with frickin’ laser beams on their foreheads are proof that Myers was also a comedic writer of some note. You might even say groovy, baby.

Read Empire's list of the 30 films that define the last 30 years.

READ MORE: The One That Got Away – Schindler’s List

READ MORE: The One That Got Away – Star Wars: The Force Awakens

READ MORE: The One That Got Away – True Romance

READ MORE: The One That Got Away – Children Of Men

READ MORE: The One That Got Away – The Bourne Ultimatum

Gallery

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Batman1 of 30

#1 – Batman (Tim Burton, 1989)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Goodfellas2 of 30

#2 – Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Terminator 2: Judgment Day3 of 30

#3 – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (James Cameron, 1991)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Reservoir Dogs4 of 30

#4 – Reservoir Dogs

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Jurassic Park5 of 30

#5 – Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – The Shawshank Redemption6 of 30

#6 – The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Toy Story7 of 30

#7 – Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers u20138 of 30

#8 – Scream (Wes Craven, 1996)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Titanic9 of 30

#9 – Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Blade10 of 30

#10 – Blade (Stephen Norrington, 1998)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – The Matrix11 of 30

#11 – The Matrix (The Wachowskis, 1999)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – American Psycho12 of 30

#12 – American Psycho

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring13 of 30

#13 – The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Spirited Away14 of 30

#14 – Spirited Away

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Lost In Translation15 of 30

#15 – Lost In Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Shaun Of The Dead16 of 30

#16 – Shaun Of The Dead (Edgar Wright, 2004)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Brokeback Mountain17 of 30

#17 – Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Pan's Labyrinth18 of 30

#18 – Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – No Country For Old Men19 of 30

#19 – No Country For Old Men (The Coen Brothers, 2007)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – The Dark Knight20 of 30

#20 – The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Avatar21 of 30

#21 – Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Inception22 of 30

#22 – Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Bridesmaids23 of 30

#23 – Bridesmaids (Paul Feig, 2011)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Avengers Assemble24 of 30

#24 – Avengers Assemble (Joss Whedon, 2012)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Gravity25 of 30

#25 – Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron, 2013)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Birdman26 of 30

#26 – Birdman (Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2014)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Mad Max: Fury Road27 of 30

#27 – Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Moonlight28 of 30

#28 – Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Get Out29 of 30

#29 – Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)

Empire's 30th Anniversary Edition Covers – Black Panther30 of 30

#30 – Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, 2018)

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