Austin Powers in Goldmember

This is Jay Roach’s third time round as director of the Mike Myers romps. In between outings Roach also managed to direct Meet The Parents (2000).

Due to the late nature of previews I have not yet seen Myers’ latest offering but can share some insights gleaned from Rolling Stone and Variety to assist readers make up their own minds. I must say I quite enjoyed Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me but my gut feeling is that the latest outing is not quite the same, or as Rolling Stone aptly puts it, The first time was the charm baby -¦

This time round we have Beyonc?nowles from Destiny’s Child taking the Heather Graham/Liz Hurley role of resident totty. She plays agent Foxxy Cleopatra. There are less infantile moments and the third film is more splashy in the sense that it is huge, elaborate and over-produced. It seems that despite the appearance of Michael Caine as daddy spy stud Powers, Verne Troyer (Mini-Me), Michael York and at least 11 cameos, Austin Powers has transformed into a franchise commodity swollen with show-off effects and, as Ozzy Osbourne bitches, the same fucking jokes.