Austin Powers in Goldmember (DVD, 2002, Full Frame, Infinifilm Series)

AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER, the third movie in the Austin Powers series, stars Mike Myers in director Jay Roach's James Bond, Sci-Fi, 1970s, funkadelic formula--a hyper-stylized backdrop to what is ultimately Myers' one-man show.GOLDMEMBER is a family affair. Austin has a few unresolved issues with his dear old dad, Nigel Powers (the dead ringer Michael Caine, who is also a good sport), and he hopes to work out some Freudian tension when he's not saving the world from the forces of evil. Myers flexes his actor muscles and portrays a more thoughtful, and--is it even possible--a slightly less geeky Austin in this film. Likewise, even the bad guys show some new personality: Dr. Evil reveals a penchant for talking like a hip-hop, wise-ass homeboy, and the new villain Goldmember (the latest in Myers' repertoire) is an enigmatic amputee with a heart of gold who speaks with a Dutch accent and eats his own peeling skin. If that's not disgusting enough, Fat Bastard, the greasy behemoth from the THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME, appears again in GOLDMEMBER, delving into new and nasty scatological territory. But the joke's on us, because GOLDMEMBER's toilet humor is so extreme that it dissolves into a harmless fit of giggles, keeping viewers laughing from start to finish.