Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

Directed by Jay Roach. Starring Mike Myers, Michael Caine, Beyoncé Knowles, Seth Green, Verne Troyer, Robert Wagner, Mindy Sterling, Michael York, Fred Savage, Nobu Matsuhisa. [PG-13]

The bloom is definitely off the rose by this third outing from the titular secret agent, which just repeats the same old jokes and characters ad nauseum. Scratchy sketch of a plot involves a Dutch gold-smelting supervillain called Goldmember (played, of course, by Myers) who’s involved in kidnapping, a tractor beam that could destroy the planet, and time travel (a plot device that’s reused solely to introduce a blaxploitation-style babe played by Knowles). As Austin’s negligent father (and fellow womanizing international man of mystery), Caine has a few mildly agreeable moments, but still feels wasted; Myers struggles to milk laughs out of old-hat characters—including Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard—and he can’t do anything with Goldmember, who’s just weird and gross (check out that running “joke” about how he likes to eat large flakes of his own peeled skin); as for Knowles, she makes one nostalgic for the subtle nuance of Elizabeth Hurley and Heather Graham. Features several cameos, which are fun at first, but by the time they get to Britney Spears and Ozzy Osbourne’s family, enough is enough.

34/100