Yeah baby! 'Goldmember' shagadelic

Austin Powers in Goldmember -- PG-13
Starring: Mike Myers, Beyonce Knowles, Verne Troyer
Directed by: Jay Roach
Showing: Showplace West 12 Not-so-secret agent Austin Powers returns to save the world from himself in "Goldmember," but is more than likely to save the world from this summer's poor excuses for comedies. While not as funny or clever as the previous Austin Powers films, "Goldmember" was definitely one of the funniest movies I've seen in awhile... unless you count "Crossroads." As usual, Powers is called upon to travel back and forth through time to foil Dr. Evil's plan to destroy the world. This time Dr. Evil has gone back to the '70s to enlist the help of a diabolical skating Dutchman whose "mini me," if you know what I mean, was turned to gold in "an unfortunate smelting accident," thus the name Goldmember. Powers partners up with Foxxy Cleopatra (Beyonce Knowles) to help him take down Dr. Evil, and gets a little unexpected help. The humor here is pretty much the same as in the previous two, but remains somewhat fresh because those instances are typically acknowledged by the movie itself in a few rather humorous instances. The numerous cameos, including what appears to be Fred Savage hiding behind a giant mole, tend to set up some of the funnier scenes. The scenes with the staple characters, especially the feuds between Scott Evil (Seth Green) and Mini-Me (Verne Troyer), are usually hilarious, disgusting or a combination of both. Myers tells the same jokes, but does so in different characters to keep things interesting. Knowles' annoying catch-phrase spewing character seemed a bit out of place, aside from her look of course, but at least her acting was better than Denise Richards' in the last real James Bond installment "The World Is Not Enough." Once again, Myers makes a film that will have anyone laughing out loud, though the jokes are even more adolescent than before. In fact, this one is probably a lot more childish and offensive -- at least to the Dutch and the vertically challenged -- than the last two. But really, that's the point. It's so ridiculous that you can't take it seriously and can't help but laugh.