5 Great Comedy Movie Sequels (And 5 That Were Disappointments)

3. Austin Powers In Goldmember (2002)

When I was an adolescent, quoting lines from "Austin Powers" movies was just something that was done. "Yeah baby!", "Do I make you horny, baby?"---it was not long before people would only quote those lines when they were trying to be ironic. Now, it's very much a thing of the past. There's no irony involved anymore. Nobody dresses up like Austin Powers for Halloween. No one ever tries to do a Dr. Evil impression. It's done. The time has passed. So why did this happen? It's simple: Mike Myers & co. ran all those jokes into the ground with the third movie. Yes, it's very much safe to say that the "Austin Powers" movies have not aged very well over the past couple of years. The first one still has plenty of great moments and is often very funny, the second one took a bit of a dip in quality but it at least manages to take the series through some quirky directions. There's the introduction of a couple of new characters (Mini-Me and Fat Bastard) that now seem integral to the film series as a whole. And the film seems to have a lot of fun incorporating time travel into the plot. I don't have a problem with the second film. It's the third film that is very much guilty of rehashing all the same jokes that were introduced earlier in the series. Overall, I'm pretty sure "Goldmember" is the reason why the Austin Powers series has taken a dive in the public consciousness. "Goldmember" rehashes so many jokes from the second film that they actually have Ozzy Osbourne, featured in a cameo appearance, make fun of that fact. Oh yeah, that's another thing. "Goldmember" is filled with a ridiculous amount of celebrity cameos. Instead of the film being nostalgic for the '60s or the '70s, watching it now very much reminds you that the film was made in 2002. Remember when "The Osbournes" was a reality show that existed? Remember when Britney Spears was a pop superstar? Remember when Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life" was a popular song? Actually, even that was a dated reference when the movie first came out. Out of the entire movie, only Beyonce is still relevant. She actually manages to have a great amount of fun with her role, unfortunately she and Mike Myers displayed zero chemistry between each other. Then there's the appearance of yet another Mike Myers character in the film: Goldmember. He's Dutch, he has golden genitals, he has a collection of his own dead skin, and he constantly makes '70s pop culture references. There was some comic potential there, perhaps, but the film is too busy being in love with itself that it never tries to enter new comic directions. Instead, they just go for the same jokes that made the first two movies work. By the time the movie was over, audiences all made a secret pact never to quote from an Austin Powers movie ever again. Eleven years later? The pact is still strong.