Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
"You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!"
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
"You're the Diet Coke of evil."
I find these movies pretty dumb, but it had been a long time and I got them cheap and I have to admit parts make me laugh. Really, they're better Bond spoofs than Casino Royale.
Robert Redford plays Bill Bryson, a travel writer who's never written any significant coverage of his own homeland, the US. After taking a stroll in his neighborhood, he decides to hike the Appalachian Trail, taking Nick Nolte (as Steven Katz) when his wife insists on having company so he doesn't die. As their journey progresses, so too do the outlandish situations they find themselves in. Based in Bryson's book.
My sister, brother-in-law and I watched this last Saturday (I didn't expect to uphold my weekly tradition, was a pleasant surprise). I didn't expect to enjoy it so much, either. Redford, even though he resembles a raisin with a wig, has some hilarious one-liners, and Nolte gets up to his eyeballs in dumb shit (at one point he picks up a chubby woman only to be chased around town by her angry husband).
Probably the standout performance is from the actress playing this absolutely insufferable know-it-all hiker, who constantly criticizes and belittles both mains and blabs endlessly about how boring everyone but her is. You want to knock her out with a clenched fist, she does such a great job of making you hate her.
Side note, my older sister is in the process of reading the book, and says Katz tells plenty of funny stories.
My mom commented that she hated this film and is very disappointed Nolte is such a fat slob now, and that neither main could hike the trail at their age/shape (ignoring that it's just actors in a film, the real people were fairly different). I don't care, I'm recommending this to anyone who wants a good laugh.
Villain Draft 3: Fourth Place Winner
September 11, 2001; January 6, 2021; February 13, 2021
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