Austin Powers In Goldmember suffers from the same fate which hits all sequel - recycle/remake syndrome. It could have stopped in The Spy Who Shagged Me, a better sequel, which had also recycled most of the scenes from the original Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Here it takes all those scenes into a step higher (or lower in taste), and mostly just managed to draw a polite chuckle from me, having had enjoyed the first two.

There'll be plenty of spoiler from here onwards, so you may want to watch the film before reading this. Also, you may need to have memories of previous Austin Powers, before understanding the below.

The film starts with a bang, a-la James Bond pre-title teaser. We don't get to see Austin, until he finishes off bad guy in the chopper. Then the camera swoops up and gasp! Tom Cruise as Austin Powers. Then, there's Gwyneth Paltrow as Dixie Normous. Then Kevin Spacey as Dr. Evil and Danny De Vito, as the better Mini-Me. Holly cow! Finally Steven Spielberg as the director of this movie within movie. The movie then proceeds to a musical number with Britney Spears revealed as a Fembot. Its rousing and spectacular. However, its downhill from here.

The nicer addition to this series is Michael Caine. He plays Niger Powers, the neglecting father of Austin Powers. The role was originally offered to Sean Connery, but he turned it down. Caine looks good, as the more matured version of Austin, and his role is definitely a spoof of many secret agent roles he himself has played. And consider The Italian Job, the ultimate 60s movie, which is definitely one of many movies Austin Powers is inspired by. It starred Michael Caine and a lot of mini cars. And the mini car also makes an appearance here. A nice tribute.

Beyonce Knowles, of Destiny's Child, co-stars as the 70s hip blaxploitation star partner of Austin's, Foxxy Cleopatra. She doesn't get to do much or can either, besides looking gorgeous. Like one of the critics advice, she will be better off sticking to her day job. .

Mike Myers goes further in his Peter Sellers mode, by playing an additional character, Goldmember. Obviously inspired by Goldfinger of the famed Bond film, this dude is not fun. He is crudely drawn, and definitely not the kind of bad guy you'd love to hate, like Dr. Evil, also played by Myers. Honestly the movie could have done better without him. But the end of him is a surprise. Check out who plays him in the 'movie' version. Fat Bastard makes his appearance again, but he never got my attention.

The main attraction, like all Austin Powers films, is of course Dr. Evil. That comes with Mini Me (Verne Troyer) and Scott Evil (Seth Green), his son. The triangle relationship thing gets really sticky this time, with Scott slowly becoming Evil himself, while the disillusioned Mini Me (As Herr doctor gets closer to his son) defects and becomes one of the good guy. Scenes containing all these characters are great to watch.

Otherwise, all those crude jokes, compulsory rap musical scene with Dr. Evil are all there. Frankly, I enjoyed the movie. There are parts, especially containing jokes about bodily fluid, which nauseated me, but I managed to get past that. It is funny, but I doubt if I would get the movie once it is out in the video.

There is running gag on 'mole', that features above Fred Savage's upper lip. Everyone gets shocked by its obscene appearance. At first I didn't laugh. But it kind of gets to you and during the final scene, you really laugh. At least I did.

There is a family reunion, and revelation at the end, that was probably intended to spoof Star Wars episodes. But it didn't quite work out. It looks like the end of series, but looking at the fact that Myers is never known for any others role, apart from Austin Powers, and the fact that the movie is doing okay financially, my bet is there will be another sequel.