Firstly, sorry about the title but as a highly unoriginal person I couldn't think of anything else. Anyway a titles is only a title so it doesn't really matter. On with the review then.

‘Austin Powers - The Spy Who Shagged Me' is the follow up to the very success ‘Austin Powers' which stared Mike Myers (who's other films include the two hilarious ‘Wayne's World' films and ‘Saturday Night Live') and Liz Hurly. Not being a great film watcher and being without sky or digital it was not actually until Austin Powers was first shown on channel 4 that I first saw it. However it was well worth the wait as it is one very, very funny film. So funny in fact that it encouraged me to go out and buy the sequel soon after. This is a rarity for me, I only own about 10 films on video, but I am glad that I did folk out the cash as the film equals if not improves upon the original.

The Spy Who... is, of course, a comedy and just like its predecessor it is very much a spoof of other spy films particularly the James Bond series. Again the film stars Mike Myers who dominates the film with his superb talent as a comic actor. As in the original film Myers plays both of the 2 main characters - Austin Powers and his arch enemy Dr Evil. He also plays an addition character in this film in the form of Fat bas***d.

Powers himself is a ‘spy' working for the ministry of defence. Originally from the sixties he now lives in the nineties due to being frozen in order to prevent Dr Evil from taking over the world in the future (watch the first film for more details on this). Although Austin is now a citizen of the nineties he is very much a throwback from the sixties. He wears the clothes of the era, believes in free sex and loves the life of constant parties. He's a Swinger who , in his own words, ‘Puts the Grrr in Swinger' He has some lines so funny that you will literally find yourself crying through laughter.

Myers other major character in the film is Dr Evil. As I have already mentioned how is the arch enemy of Powers and vice-versa. Dr Evil, as his name might just suggest is evil, and therefore dreams of ruling the world. His attempts at this are very much the centre of the plots of both films.

So what of the plot then. Under normal circumstances when reviewing a film here on Ciao I would try not to give to much of the plot of the in an attempt not to ruin peoples enjoyment of it. However where Austin Powers is concerned this isn't really a worry. That is because it is not for the plot of the film that The Spy who.... is so great but for its comic value. So here a quick run through of the plot.

The film starts with Austin on his honeymoon to his new wife Vanessa played by Liz Hurly. Her appearance in this film is rather brief however. It is soon revealed that she is in fact a ‘femme-bot' working for Dr Evil and on a mission to destroy Austin. A rather odd start to the film but hey. She explodes herself whilst trying to kill Powers but is unsuccessful in her task leaving Austin to be a free man again which makes him very happy indeed. This leads to a superbly choreographed opening sequence where a naked Powers dances through his hotel.

From this point on the film follows Dr Evils attempt at world domination. In order for Evil's plot to come to come into practise he decides he must take Austin's ‘Mojo' (this can probably be best described as his sex drive or perhaps his sexuality, I'm not entirely sure as this is never explained in full. If you've got any other suggestion please tell me). To take this Dr evil uses a time machine to travel back in time and take it while Austin is frozen. The film then follows a high humourous plot, which expands upon many of the jokes used during the first film, where Powers attempts to take back his mojo, prevent Dr Evil from destroying the world by firing a giant ‘laser' situated on moon or ‘Death star' (just one of many copies and spoofs from other films) and to win over the girl who this time come in the form of Felicity Shagwell.

In the film as well as Austin and Dr Evil there are several other characters of note. Who I shall now run through.

Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham) - Austins high attractive love interest throughout the film. She acts very much as Liz Hurly did in the first film being a powerful helper of Powers as he attempts to save the world. Although not the funniest character she does have some fine lines such as "Shagwell by name, shag very well by nature.

Fat Bas***d (Mike Myers) - Mike's third character in the film is possibly one of the funniest. He works for Dr Evil and as the name suggests he is very, very........VERY fat and also the films most vulgar character . He brings about many of the films funniest minutes such as him saying to Shagwell ‘I've got bigger titties than you do', his love for eating babies and the rather touching moment ‘I eat because I'm unhappy and I'm unhappy because I eat' then breaks wind ‘Well it's a long road'. Although not directly he also brings about the films funniest moment with Austin drinking ‘coffee' that happens to in fact be Fat's faeces

Mini Me (Verne Troyer) - An exact copy of Dr Evil only an 8th of the size. He may not say much but that doesn't stop him from being very funny.

Number 2 (Rob Lowe) - Dr Evils right hand man. He doesn't really share Evil's ambition of world domination through evil plans. Instead he's more economically minded. Rather than going back to steal Power's mojo he'd prefer to invest in the stock market to make billions.

Scott Evil (Seth Green) - Played by Seth who also played Oz in the wonderful Buffy the Vampire Slayer Scott is the teenage son of Dr Evil. Far me sensible than his dad suggesting that they simply shoot Austin rather than placing him in easily escapable positions. Very funny, but in a more intelligent way than most of the films humour.

Allotta Fagina (Fabiana Udenio) - Another of Evil's assassins sent out to help kill Powers. It's not hard to work out the gags that are made about her name.

Robin Swallows (Gia Garides) - Although not a very major character in the film I thought I'd mention her for one funny moment she's involved with
Robin: My names Robin Swallows, maiden name Spitz
Austin: Well which is baby Spitz or Swallows???

So their the main characters in the film. I thought I'd also mention the fine sound track to the Spy Who... This includes the likes of REM and Madonna who sings the title tune ‘Beautiful Stranger'.

So then to conclude if you are a fan of comedy then Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me is an absolute must see (as is its predecessor). Although many of the gags used are taken from the first film it somehow manages to improve on them and also remains remarkably fresh. I can guarantee that this film is Laugh out loud funny almost throughout. This has to go down as one of my all time favourite films and probably the best comedy movie ever made. I'll say it once more Groovy Baby...Yeah.