For people who don't find the Austin Powers movies funny... - Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) Discussion

[–] debiler 13 years ago

It's really strange. My girlfriend has almost the exact same taste in comedy as I do, except for Austin Powers. I love it, she hates it. I guess it's just a hit or miss thing. Like Monty Python, you know?

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I didn't like the Godfather, so what?

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[–] Psychedelics8 12 years ago

I'm sure the majority of people who don't like it are women, as it is a sexist movie.. undeniably.

Like your girlfriend and my sister. ha

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[–] SenoritaTorres 12 years ago

Well I'm a woman, and I love the Austin Powers films. They are hilarious, and I understand everyone has different tastes, but I couldn't get through those films without laughing if I tried.

Justice for the 96
-15th April 1989

YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE

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[–] DavidTL 11 years ago

It's not really a sexist movie, it does spoof it though a lot.

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[–] avortac 10 years ago

It's a sexist movie. Men are treated like in most movies - they are killed, maimed, slapped in the face, and all that (I can't remember if anyone is kicked in the groin in this one though). Women can do anything they want to men, and men are expected to just 'deal with it' and not do anything back. That's not equality, that's sexism.

Women are adored, treated as something really valuable and precious, and only another woman can hit, injure or shoot a woman in this movie (like in so many others). But men can be shot by women and men.

Most movies are incredibly sexist against men.

What? Did you think the term 'sexist' means only misogyny, and doesn't include misandry? That's a sexist attitude right there.

The term 'sexist' is neutral. It does not include a gender, so it means both genders. Anything that treats men as inferior (misandry, man-hating), is sexist.

It's just really sad that one always has to qualify 'sexist against men', when talking about misandry in this modern world - but when talking about misogyny, no qualification seems to be needed.

This of course has to change, if equality is ever to happen. Men are good. Men have worth. Sexism against men is just as bad as sexism against women (actually worse, because sexism against men is like oppressing the poor field peasants that live in the mud, versus joking about the rich, wealthy and famous princesses that live in the ivory towers).

But in a world where things are equal between genders, sexism would be equally bad, whether it happens against men or women.

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[–] liscarkat (18605) 6 years ago

avortac--

I don't know if you're still around, four years after your post, but you are 100 percent correct.

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[–] Observer_2020 13 years ago

I liked the first and the third Austin Powers movies. The second was OK but they reused too many jokes from the 1st movie, and Heather Graham was kind of underwhelming.

I think some people may not like the movies because of the raunchy nature of the material. Some of the jokes drop down into 5th grade toilet humor level. I still found some of them funny, but others were just silly (to me).

Others might object to the nature of Mini Me's role, the physical and mental abuse he experiences (even if played for comedic effect). I thought most of his scenes were hilarious but sometimes I did fault myself for laughing.

Austin Powers is also very much a pop culture movie, with the frequent references to James Bond movies, the swinging 60s, Star Wars, rap videos, etc. Some people don't like pop culture movies. I'm not judging them. Sometimes I like this sort of movie, sometimes I don't.

Still others may not like the sexual nature of the character and the stories. It's simply not everyone's cup of tea. No big deal about that.

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[–] aillas55 13 years ago

Strange. I thought the second was the best one. I have never heard a cinema audience laughing so loud, so often. Exceprt for perhaps the South Park movie.

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[–] marshaul 8 years ago

That's my reaction. I never knew the first two movies were so "poorly" received on the interwebs until I came to IMDB.

I've seen a lot of comedies in theaters, and far and away the two with the most "audience participation" of the mutual laughter and everybody getting into it type were Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, and The Spy who Shagged Me.

And the first AP is a timeless spoof of the classic James Bond movies that every normal person grew up watching.

Basically, people don't like these movies because either, A: they are convinced they are too sophisticated for toilet humor, or B: they suffer from the absolute cultural poverty of millennials and so have no frame of reference from which to understand these movies.

If you think these movies lack context and don't get the humor, you probably fall in the second category. If you think you're too good for fart jokes, that's OK, because nobody wants to watch funny movies with you anyway.

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[–] lasums 13 years ago

I fall into the group that can't stand Austin Power's movies - and I've tried to watch and enjoy them on several occasions since most of my friends think they are really funny. I'm not sure why they don't do it for me...but I've never been a fan of Saturday Night Live either and I find many of the alums from there unfunny. Will Ferrel bores me but I think 30 Rock is hilarious so go figure.

The shows/movies I do like are pretty much anything by Monty Python, Kids in the Hall, In Living Color, Raising Hope, Community, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, Mystery Men, Shaun of the Dead & Murder by Death just off the top of my head.

I also don't understand why so many people get all crappy if someone tells them that they 'don't get' something. WTF? I freely admit that I just don't get the Austin Powers movies and I don't know why. Maybe I'm missing the Austin Powers gene or something.

I don't know if that helps at all.

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[–] Degree7 12 years ago

lasums,

The thing about Austin Powers that made it so funny is that it was a spoof of the spy genre. It had never really been done before (well or with a decent budget). I mean, what's not to like about that?

Are you telling me you didn't find the scene where Dr. Evil and Scott go to group therapy funny? How is it possible not to laugh at a line like, "He accused chestnuts of being lazy."

That whole monologue is straight hilarity!

A movie is not about what it's about, it's about how it's about it. ~ Roger Ebert

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[–] lasums 12 years ago

Nope, I didn't. I think my biggest problem with the movies is Mike Myers - he's constantly overacting in ever scene. The staring at the camera and making funny faces just kills it for me every time.

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[–] Degree7 12 years ago

I guess if yo don't find his style of playing to the camera funny, that's fine.

But it's kind of the whole point you know, the whole gag of the over dramatic close up and speaking to the camera, the whole film is a very tongue in cheek comedy, I guess if you can't get into that, then it's a shame. Not everyone finds Mike Myers funny I guess.

Do you like Wayne's World?

A movie is not about what it's about, it's about how it's about it. ~ Roger Ebert

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[–] ajitgaud-715-909442 11 years ago

Perhaps he lost his "mojo"

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[–] sunnycfg 12 years ago

I hate Austin powers. Could give you a few examples I laugh to:

Snatch
In bruges
Pulp fiction (Marvin scene for example)
Inglorious basterds
Burn after reading

I also really enjoy stand up comedy. I generally dislike most movies that says Comedy, since they tend to be trying to hard imo.

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[–] MisSigsFan 12 years ago

So you like dark humor. What the hell are you doing here then?

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Hey, it's redelso2!

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[–] skinnyjoeymerlino 12 years ago

The first one is funny, the 2nd and third are not. The first one had that ONE really funny toilet stall sequence, and Meyers tried to recapture that moment in "Spy Who Shagged Me" and "Goldmember" by having two complete motion pictures of poopoopeepee humor. Some of the stuff in "Spy Who Shagged Me", like the coffee mug and the tent silhouette scenes, are painfully unfunny.

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[–] birkettc 11 years ago

I saw it alot when I was younger, and I laughed the whole way through. But then I saw the second one recently and I didn't find it funny. Maybe it's because I was really tired that day, but I don't know. T think now I prefer things like Peter Sellers

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[–] taijiquan12 11 years ago

I remember one of my friends who didn't like Austin Powers had also never seen a Bond film, or many Bond films, so I think that might be part of why it doesn't hit the mark with some people.

I think had Austin Powers come out closer to the 60's it would've been even more widely received, as it satires Bond, The Man from UNCLE, and In Like Flint. If you haven't seen those or aren't familiar with 60's pop culture, you might not get the humour or what it's supposed to be mocking.

"Bulls**t MR.Han Man!!"--Jim Kelly in Enter the Dragon

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[–] joe_538 11 years ago

It's not really mocking, Mike Myers did it because he's a fan of the Bond series; it's more of a tongue-in-cheek homage. I remember my sister loved these movies and to this day has never seen a James Bond, Matt Helm, or Flint movie; let alone Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, or a single episode of Get Smart, Avengers, or The Man From UNCLE. A person who has seen at least some of these will undeniably get more out of it, though.

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[–] arnez88-237-649302 11 years ago

Hate, hate, HATE the character and most of the characters in the movies. Just like I hate Napoleon Dynamite and *beep* HATE Pee-wee Herman! I just cannot stand these insanely childish characters played by grown ups. Thats the reason why I hate the Austin Powers movies.

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[–] JimCargse 11 years ago

"but there are always going to be some who don't like something" i'd say more than some seeing as there are 40,000 who voted the movie 6 or less.
concerning why I hate this movie: I just get the feeling it tries so hard to be funny. what I like about a comedian is how randomly and naturally he says something. I also don't find Mike Myers funny. I don't find funny the way he speaks, the way he dresses, the kind of humor he has... I usually try to avoid any movie with him in b/c I know he has the same humor (more or less) in all of his movies. (just like I avoid Sacha Baron Cohen or Adam Sandler movies).
Movies I find funny: Rush Hour, Wedding Crashers, Old School, Superbad, Hot Rod, Anchorman, A fish called Wanda but also Leslie Nielsen movies, Laurel and Hardy movies...

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] Nomad310 11 years ago

I'm watching it for the first time and it's hysterical. Fembots! Alotta Fagina! . I grew up in the sixties, and I'm wondering how this can be properly appreciated if you didn't?

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] JimCargse 11 years ago

you have a point there. I was born in the 90s and although I enjoy watching the proper spy movies (the 60s and 70s James Bonds for example), the parody of them I just cant stand.. or maybe its just Myers who's never made me laugh

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[–] ericjg623 11 years ago

I thought the first one was more or less okay (just watched it on DVD), but the two sequels mostly just recycle the same jokes. I'd say the Austin Powers character was definitely a one movie concept, after that he gets tiresome, fast.

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