Metacritic reviews

Myers gives us all of the exaggerated physical schtick of Jim Carrey plus the added bonus of wickedly clever writing that refuses to let you escape.

Austin is funny, extremely funny, because he is so ridiculous, and because Myers is a brilliant mimic who, like Martin Short, knows how to do ridiculous.

Austin Powers is the kind of movie Mel Brooks used to make -- extravagantly funny, with plenty of juvenile humor, but as much or more of it smart, delivered with a dead aim at a cultural milestone, affection for its victim, and style.

Austin Powers sounded like a silly idea, but it turns out to be one of the best comedies of the year.

The key to the film, however, is the joyous performance of Mike Myers, who plays both the Beatle-mopped Austin Powers and the bald-headed Dr. Evil.

What's really fun about this silly but spirited comedy isn't just the ribbing of "swinging London" fashion and social attitudes but the use of the compulsive zooms and split-screen mosaics of commercial movies of the 60s.

The drawn-out, lowbrow humor is either "love it" or "hate it," so it may not be your bag, baby.

Amiable, brightly colored spoof of '60s pop culture.

Mike Myers wrote the abominable script, plays both leads and is miscast in each.

Without a genuinely charming central character to pull it together, the movie is a shamble of tedious passages punctuated by a few desultory chuckles.