Verne Troyer, left, and Mike Myers in a scene from the motion picture "Austin Powers in Goldmember." (Gannett News Service, Melinda Sue Gordon/New Line Cinema). Austin Powers in Goldmember Starring: Mike Myers, Beyonce Knowles, Michael Caine. Director: Jay Roach. Rated PG-13: Profanity, partial nudity, vulgar sexual humor, violence Running time: 94 minutes. view the trailer | official website Teaming up with the mysterious yet peculiar Goldmember, Dr. Evil hatches a time-traveling scheme to take over the world--one that involves the kidnapping of Nigel Powers, Austin's beloved father and England's most renowned spy. As he chases the villains through time, Austin visits 1975 and joins forces with his old flame, the streetwise and stylish detective Foxxy Cleopatra. Together Austin and Foxxy must find a way to save Nigel and stop Dr. Evil and Goldmember from their mischievous mayhem.

by Marshall Fine, Gannett News Service

Is three the charm? Or is it three strikes and you're out? If only it were that simple.

Mike Myers' third adventure, "Austin Powers in Goldmember," has a bunch of laughs (though not as many as either of the first two films in this series). But this second sequel to the 1997 hit also spends far too much time setting up a plot that ultimately is beside the point. Hasn't it always been?

This seemingly unstoppable series of secret-agent-film spoofs expands its purview from the 1960s to the 1970s. In this case, Powers is chasing one of Dr. Evil's associates: an odd Dutchman called Goldmember (because he lost his genitals in "a smelting accident" and replaced them with a golden copy), who runs a disco in the mid-1970s. Like Austin, Dr. Evil and Fat Bastard, Goldmember is played by Myers.

The plot, such as it is, deals with Goldmember aiding Dr. Evil's quest to build a tractor beam that can pull a mammoth gold asteroid into a collision with Earth. Once the device is in place, Dr. Evil can hold Earth for ransom.

In the process, Dr. Evil kidnaps Austin's father, Nigel Powers (Michael Caine), who bears an uncanny resemblance to Harry Palmer, the '60s secret agent Caine played in "The Ipcress File," except with worse teeth. (Myers has said that the Harry Palmer films were his inspiration for Austin Powers.)

The fun in "Goldmember" lies in the bottomless capacity by writers Myers and Mike McCullers for raunchy jokes that are both sophomoric and funny. Naming characters Dixie Normous and Fook Mi is only the tip of the iceberg, as it were. They also know how to undermine the conventions of this genre in witty ways, and have fun interpolating references to other films while poking fun at them at the same time.

Myers also obviously loves outrageously violent slapstick (most of which has to do with turning Dr. Evil's pint-sized clone Mini-Me (Verne Troyer) into a tiny punching bag).

Myers has well-developed shtick for each of his personas, but the writing doesn't always support the characters. Goldmember's gags, for example, have to do with his incomprehensible Dutch accent and his surprisingly double-jointed knees. Myers is better off as Dr. Evil (with his bizarre attraction to hip-hop culture) and Fat Bastard (the grossest of the gross), while Austin Powers seems almost normal (and boring) by comparison.

Beyonce Knowles of Destiny's Child plays Foxxy Cleopatra, a 1970s-era agent and love interest with whom Austin reconnects while searching for his father in the past. Meant as a spoof of the kind of characters Pam Grier played in the '70s, she's mostly called upon to talk sassy and flaunt her bushel-sized Afro.

Caine, by contrast, obviously gets the joke and has such a good time with it that he lights up the screen.

At this point, "Austin Powers" also has become a vehicle for shameless product placement: beer, cars, cell phones. The brand names pop up in the film so often that one expects the movie to stop for a commercial.

"Austin Powers in Goldmember" is at its best when it is most self-aware, spoofing the conventions of this genre and poking fun at other films. But it slows to a virtual stop when the writers actually try to be serious about the story.

Serious? Austin Powers? Oh, behave.