Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Directed by M. Jay Roach Starring Mike Myers and Heather Graham Also Today Austin's Power Falling in and out of love with the International Man of Mystery. Sharps & Flats Have Dr. Evil's corporate toadies stolen the "Austin Powers" soundtrack from Mike Myers?

But given the choice between a movie that's better structured and only half as funny, I'd take "The Spy Who Shagged Me" (or its predecessor, for that matter) any day. The story is dismissible in a few swift strokes: Dr. Evil is back, along with a pint-sized clone of himself whom he affectionately calls Mini-Me, and he's got a plan to take over the world that involves laser technology and some other stuff. Austin Powers and his new sidekick, the deliciously named Felicity Shagwell, set out to stop him. But Powers is feeling like less of a man these days: His mojo -- that is to say his, ahem, manly essence -- has been stolen by Fat Bastard, an obese, cranky Scotsman who, at Dr. Evil's bidding, has traveled back in time to tap into Powers' cryogenic cell circa 1969 and suck it out (it's a psychedelic-hued goo-like substance) with a syringe.

"The Spy Who Shagged Me" is something of a feat of derring-do, not because it's good but because Mike Myers (who plays three roles here, those of Powers, Dr. Evil and, in a fat suit designed by special effects whiz Stan Winston, the nasty Fat Bastard) miraculously keeps the whole show running practically by himself. Powers' character is an odd collection of effects: the too-broad disingenuous grin, the toupee-like mop of hair, the absurdly furry chest. By this time, it's all become so iconic that it really shouldn't be funny anymore.

So why is it? If anything, Myers' Powers seems even more hysterical this time around, even though by now we've already digested all of the character's specific visual jokes and catch phrases. But Myers still hasn't worn out the essential joke of Powers. When he goes back to his pad with a curvy, Amazonian fashion model and spy (named Ivana Humpalot -- played by Kristen Johnson) and commences foreplay with her in the form of a game of chess, he makes even the small, stupid bits work, sucking hungrily on the nipple-like pawn and then popping it out between his lips with a lascivious leer. Powers has a kind of mischievous joie de vivre that stops just short of being annoying, and it more than offsets his untamed libido (not to mention those delightfully horrible teeth).

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