Austin Powers

A send-up of '60s spy movies, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a mix of dead-on parody, original absurdity, and a bit of trite bathroom humor that finds Michael Myers (Wayne's World) embracing silly material with both a giddy enthusiasm and a sarcastic wink. Myers has also written himself two wacky roles to play: the title character, a British spy who's ridiculously repulsive and tacky yet irresistible to women; and Powers's arch-nemesis Dr. Evil, a combination of a cartoon bad guy and a CEO. Both characters, frozen in 1967, have defrosted in 1997 to do battle again, and they're hilariously anachronistic. Powers can't help calling every woman "baby" and asking whether she wants to "shag"; Dr. Evil threatens to destroy the world unless the UN comes up with a measly $1 million.

Not everything works, but Myers's charming goofiness lets him push even the most cliché'd jokes so far that they become funny. And, as in any '60s spy flick, there's the requisite skimpily dressed knockout sidekick, here played by Elizabeth Hurley. Divine Brown refused the role. At the Cinema World, the Entertainment Cinemas, Gardner, the Hoyt Franklin, Leominster, Natick, the Solomon Pond Hoyt 15, and the Worcester North Showcase.

-- Mark Bazer