23 May 2004 | Theo Robertson

7 | Will Film Buffs Like This ? ...

... Yeah baby yeah



I didn't watch the original Austin Powers INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY down to the fact that there's been more than enough Bond spoofs made over the years like those movies in the 1980s that starred Roger Moore . What ? they were actually official Bond movies ! Oh dear , I honestly thought they were spoofs and how do you spoof a spoof ? CASINO ROYALE tried it and failed while those movies that featured THE MAN FROM UNCLE are so dated they're almost unwatchable and lets not forget those awful Matt Helm movies . Come to think of it a comedy like THE PARTY that pokes fun at 1960s youth counter culture also feel very dated a surrogate Bond figure transported from the 1960s doesn't hold much appeal to me baby



However I was very surprised as to how much I enjoyed THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME down to the fact it's far more sophisticated than I expected . There's umpteen references to other TV shows and movies that IMDb die hards can enjoy . There's an edition of THE JERRY SPRINGER SHOW ( Complete with bouncers Todd and Steve ) which could have easily have been a proper edition than a send up , there's a set stolen from crap 60s series THE TIME TUNNEL , a scene stolen from THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU , a fight scene very reminiscent of the dog attack from THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY . I could go on listing all the movie and TV connections but I won't bother except to say that the plot of this movie is merged with the plots of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE and MOONRAKER



The aforementioned elements will certainly appeal to the film buffs while the bad taste jokes will appeal to the teenage market . I wasn't all that taken with the character of Fat Bastard or the fart jokes or the scene with " This coffee tastes like sh*t " but it's refreshing to see a movie comedy that does try to mix post modernist sophistication with gross out humour , JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK probably tried this but totally failed . Also naming characters with double entrede names like Felicity Shagwell and Robin Spitz Swallows might be crass but film fans will remember the Bond movies also had similarly named characters like Miss Goodthighs ( " So I can see " ) and Plenty O Toole ( " Of course you do " ) so I guess this is also an amalgamation between schoolboy humour and sophistication



THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME is hardly Oscar material but is very entertaining