Jay Roach
131 connections found
Filmography
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery 1997 
Trumbo 2015 
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me 1999 
Dinner for Schmucks 2010 
Bombshell 2019 
Meet the Parents 2000 
Game Change 2012 
Meet the Fockers 2004 
All the Way 2016 
The Campaign 2012 
Mystery, Alaska 1999 
Austin Powers in Goldmember 2002 
Recount 2008 View:
Connections, in both directions
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021)
Directed by Josh Greenbaum
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Themes Visuals
There are clear antecedents for Barb & Star’s vibe; the whole double role and supervillain schtick recalls Austin Powers, and the surreal digressions recall Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s comedies of the early 2000s, particularly Step Brothers .
"Barb and Star's" free-flowing comic energy is reminiscent of the first "Austin Powers" film and the way Mike Myers was able to get away with anything that he thought was funny.
Like some of the old-timey genre classics it recalls — Blazing Saddles , Airplane , the first Austin Powers — Barb and Star commits to its deep silliness so sweetly and completely that you can't help falling a little bit in love with them too.
Although not as on the nose or referential as Spy (2015) and the Austin Powers trilogy, the obvious stunt doubles, bad VFX, and overlong villain monologues are hilarious.
This is a very loose mash up of Austin Powers and any given Will Ferrell film, cursed with a kind of live-action Muppets makeover (this last part is directly referenced) sans any actual spirit of anarchy.
The best way to describe Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is like if you combined the absurdist, nonsensical, silly nature of the early days of Spongebob Squarepants , the light charm of a Muppets movie and a dash of Austin Powers played towards the late-‘00s/early-‘10s SNL crowd.
Spectre (2015)
Directed by Sam Mendes
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Visuals Characters
For one, a shadowy company meeting of SPECTRE agents seated at a long wooden table is more reminiscent of a parallel scene in Austin Powers than the original it parodied from 1965’s Thunderball.
Utterly devoid of surprise If you’re hunting for spoilers, I’m going to make it real easy for you: this review isn’t going to discuss Ernst Stavro Blofeld (the character that’s historically served as head of Spectre — and inspired Austin Powers’ Dr. Evil), nor will it address whether anybody in the film ends up being Blofeld or not.
Such blasts from the past risk comparisons to a cat-stroking Austin Powers parody.
There were actual thinkpieces 10 years back about whether James Bond could exist in a post-Austin Powers world.
In a post- Austin Powers world, where either homage or parody can sprout in the same fertile soil, how do you make a James Bond film that plays it as straight as the line of flesh left unpainted for safety’s sake on the actress gilded in Goldfinger ?
Sure, the earlier films in the series had gaping lacks in logic, many of which were gleefully exposed by Mike Myers in the Austin Powers movies.
Mortdecai (2015)
Directed by David Koepp
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Characters Themes
But for a certain sort of Anglophile, one who recognizes the attempted homage to ’60s comedies, the late comics Terry-Thomas and Dudley Moore and other inspirations for Mike Myers’ “Austin Powers” pictures, it’s something less than awful.
As goofball English aristocrat, puckish bon vivant and underhanded art dealer Charlie Mortdecai, Depp channels such British funnymen as Peter Sellers and Terry-Thomas (replete with the latter's gap teeth), as well as Mike Myers in the "Austin Powers" series, while still putting his own irrepressible spin on the whole madcap charade.
But there’s no room at the modern multiplex for an homage to kooky classic comedy unless we’re snickering at the very idea, as in the Austin Powers films.
Mortdecai would have been a funny movie if it were released right after Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery in 1997.
If director David Koepp's (2012's " Premium Rush ") goal was to mount the next "Austin Powers," he has been sorely led astray by Eric Aronson's (2001's " On the Line ") dismally bad screenplay, which seems to think Mortdecai's facial hair and Johanna's gag reflex every time she tries to kiss him are the height of hilarity.
Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)
Directed by Malcolm D. Lee
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Kids won’t get the nods to Austin Powers (1997), and their parents won’t care.
In any case, the movie then gives itself endless free throws of references to actual WB titles, including Casablanca, Game of Thrones, The Matrix, Superman, Mad Max and Austin Powers .
One is for Warner Bros.: The studio ostentatiously flips through its library of properties throughout the film, most notably in a series of brief clips of James gathering Tunes who have relocated to The Matrix and Austin Powers and, most distressingly, Casablanca .
Johnny English Strikes Again (2018)
Directed by David Kerr
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Themes
The result is a cheerfully unfunny low-brow affair which simply can’t compare with the many genuinely entertaining James Bond spoofs that seem to crop up every decade or so, such as Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery or the more sublime pleasures of Jean Dujardin in the French OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies.
Co-existing in the same (surely magenta shaded) comic netherworld are the “Pink Panther” films, the “Austin Powers” movies and the Johnny English vehicles, starring rubber-faced, verbally gifted English comic actor Rowan Atkinson, aka Black Adder to anybody who knows about such things.
The “Austin Powers” movies took the same comic theme and ran with it in a far more ticklishly crackpot, laugh-out-loud merry-surreal way.
And that was especially true with it coming on the heels of the far more imaginative and entertaining "Austin Powers" movies that likewise spoofed all things 007 related.
Austin Powers, El súper agente 86 y Johnny English son algunos ejemplos.
Zoolander 2 (2016)
Directed by Ben Stiller
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Plot Themes
The jokes are repeated and the storylines are rehashed, and not in a witty, self-referential way as say Mike Myers did with the Austin Powers franchise.
This feels like a total rip-off of Austin Powers, with Zoolander and Hansel becoming spies, Penelope Cruz stepping in as the tightly clad female sidekick, and a daddy issues subplot involving Zoolander’s long lost son, not to mention Mugatu has become a sad riff on Dr. Evil.
For the sake of argument, let’s say that the original “Zoolander,” a 2001 Ben Stiller comedy based on a character he introduced in a 1996 short film, was 50 percent nonsense and 50 percent inspired nonsense, however often reminiscent of “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.”
Although never a box office dynamo, Zoolander , much like Austin Powers , found new life on home video.
What we got was a sixth rate “Austin Powers” clone that chases away the good memories from Derek’s Blue Steel gaze.
Spy (2015)
Directed by Paul Feig
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Visuals Themes
The truly inspired scenes are far outnumbered by the familiar ones recycled from earlier spy spoofs like Austin Powers and Top Secret!
"Austin Powers" has an entire trilogy devoted to the concept while the stylish opening of "Spy" is a throwback to the opening James Bond film title sequences, which films like "Spy Hard" and even "Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" already utilized 5-10 years ago.
Spy stops just short of being an all-out spoof ala Austin Powers , but Feig's affection for all things James Bond is clear to see as he fits the film into the framework of a classic Sean Connery-era 007 outing (complete with Shirley Bassey-esque theme song).
With Spy, Feig, McCarthy and a strong ensemble cast have staked out the territory for what could be the kickoff to a major franchise to rival Mike Myers’ Austin Powers comedies or Peter Sellers’ The Pink Panther series, if the movie world needs any more franchises.
Where Austin Powers poked fun at the James Bond movies’ familiar tropes and old-fashioned misogyny by imitating them to exaggerated levels, Spy ’s female focus allows for a different and more knowing kind of parody, while also giving McCarthy her most nuanced role to date.
Spy is the funniest thing to happen to the espionage genre since Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
The Birdcage (1996)
Directed by Mike Nichols
influenced Dinner for Schmucks (2010), Meet the Parents (2000)
Plot
In fact, it is literally derivative, since it is a remake of a French film by director Francis Veber, whose other films Williams remade as "The Birdcage" and "Father's Day."
French writer/director Francis Veber has long been the go-to guy for Hollywood remakes like "The Man with One Red Shoe" and "The Birdcage."
The remake rights were immediately snapped up by Hollywood back in the late 1990s, which isn’t a surprise since practically every comedy that Veber makes is eventually remade across the pond, usually not very well (to name a few: 1982’s The Toy, 1985’s The Man With One Red Shoe, 1989’s Three Fugitives, 1996’s The Birdcage, and 1997’s Father’s Day).
Much like Francis Veber's " La Cage Aux Folles ," similarly Americanized as " The Birdcage ," the story here contains plenty of familiar farce elements -- overheard conversations, poorly thought-out schemes, inadvisable impersonations and the right thing ultimately being done only after multiple efforts to do the wrong thing have failed spectacularly.
Veber, a kind of Gallic Neil Simon, worked on the script of the original La Cage aux Folles later Americanized as The Birdcage, with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
But the idea has been borrowed, in greatly dumbed-down form, from “The Dinner Game,” a far funnier 1998 French movie by the prolific Francis Veber, whose works have long been adapted by Hollywood with results ranging from hilarious (“The Birdcage”) to painfully unfunny (“The Toy”).
Men in Black 3 (2012)
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Plot Themes
In some inspired casting, Josh Brolin plays a young K and delivers the best impersonation of an actor playing a younger version of a character he's already established since Rob Lowe absolutely nailed Robert Wagner in the "Austin Powers" movies.
Humor focused on the late-'60s time period has an "Austin Powers" familiarity, not unlike the recent Tim Burton release "Dark Shadows."
Boris decides to travel back in time to kill K before that happened and before you can say, "Austin Powers", Agent J (Will Smith) travels after him back to the 1960s.
Haven’t we already seen all the fish-out-of water 60s culture jokes in the “Austin Powers” movies already?
The Big Short (2015)
Directed by Adam McKay
influenced Bombshell (2019), Recount (2008), Game Change (2012)
Visuals
Other examples include Adam McKay’s The Big Short (co-written by Randolph and shot by Ackroyd) and Vice, as well as Steven Soderbergh’s The Laundromat.
Randolph served as co-writer on The Big Short; a movie that I actually quite enjoyed despite some flaws.
Charles Randolph wrote the script for "Bombshell"; he also wrote the script for "The Big Short," again signifying his credentials.
Of course, the narrative shouldn't revolve entirely around Theron’s bold transformation, “Bombshell” - directed by Jay Roach - takes “The Big Short” route by taking an important topic and giving it the mainstream treatment (it’s also an excellent companion piece with Showtime’s excellent miniseries “The Loudest Voice” which featured Russell Crowe as Ailes from earlier this year).
And this is a problem, overall, for director Jay Roach (Meet the Parents, Trumbo) and writer Charles Randolph (The Big Short), whose work is powerful, to a point, though could go deeper into the murkily complicit office politics on show.
Directed by Jay Roach and written by The Big Short‘s Charles Randolph, Bombshell brings the sexual harassment scandal of Fox News and Fox Television Stations CEO, Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) to the forefront.
M3GAN 2.0 (2025)
Directed by Gerard Johnstone
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Visuals Characters
It is obvious that while the narrative’s whole concept is a cross between an international spy thriller and a Terminator-esque Judgment Day, it also feels like a cheeky reprise to the “Austin Powers” killer sex bots while clinging to its rating.
Somehow, what he pulls together is like an Austin Powers film that takes itself a little too earnestly…
Drawing inspiration from films like Mission: Impossible, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and the Austin Powers trilogy, it is clear that director Gerard Johnstone took a loose approach to the script.
…a neuro-implanted tech bro who feels like he’s walked straight out of a parody of Black Mirror by way of Austin Powers…
MacGruber (2010)
Directed by Jorma Taccone
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Plot Characters Visuals Themes
It is, appropriately enough, a jury-rigged patchwork creation, made up of lame repetitive gags and a lot of stuff we've seen done before and better in other movies, particularly Zoolander, Austin Powers and Hot Shots!
In this regard, it’s similar to Austin Powers.
Surely Taccone — who makes an inauspicious directorial debut with MacGruber — remembers how much a strong and colorful foe like Dr. Evil contributed to the fun and mayhem of the Austin Powers’ trilogy?
Beyond the MacGuyver spoof, however, the film takes shots at pretty much every action movie of the 1980s -- from First Blood to Lethal Weapon to Die Hard -- and the result is a feature that does for that genre what Austin Powers did for 1960s spy flicks.
Director Taccone does what Jay Roach never managed in the " Austin Powers " movies: He visually nails the genre, and not just in the obvious ways.
The satire isn’t really of “MacGyver,” but an Austin Powers-type parody of the ridiculousness of action movie climaxes.
Brother Denny Byrnes, (Jon Abrahams, "Scary Movie") however, seems like an ill-advised homage to the demented brother in "Annie Hall."
The movie is like an extended version of the Annie Hall scene when Woody Allen visits Diane Keaton's WASP-y family and feels like an unwelcome extraterrestrial at their dinner table.
Such a situation could produce a yarn that brings tears to the eyes ("Romeo and Juliet" or could be the basis of a story of unmitigated charm ("Annie Hall").
Bernie finds Jack Black playing the same type of character essayed by Zach Galifianakis in The Campaign: a friendly, respectable and slightly effeminate Southerner who's greatly admired by those around him.
Another actor – ahem, Zach Galifiniakis in The Campaign – may have been tempted to turn this character into a caricature, but Black imbues with so much empathy and pathos that, despite the macabre series of events happening around him.
Zach Galifianakis plays Marty Huggins in a way that he kept reminding me of Jack Black in this year’s “Bernie.”
It seems like Galifianakis is pulling a page out of Jack Black 's performance from " Bernie " and Marty Huggins is just as likeable.
A sleazy incumbent initially running unopposed, he finds himself suddenly challenged by the civic-minded naïf and all-around family-man-cum-schmo Marty Huggins (Galifianakis, seemingly channeling Jack Black's Bernie character).
It’s also close to what Jack Black did with Bernie, but not as good.
With its Meet the Parents vibe and its twisted take on classic fairy tale standards, Shrek 2 is always entertaining and often hilarious.
Over their first evening meal en famille— either Guess Who’s Coming to Dinneror Meet the Parents, depending on when you grew up — King Harold (voiced by a querulous John Cleese ) and Queen Lillian ( Julie Andrews , reprising her regal dignity in The Princess Diaries) try to overcome their shock at their daughter’s altered appearance and her new husband’s table manners.
"Shrek 2" is "Meet the Parents" for computer-animated ogres, and once again the cat gets the biggest laughs--in this case a swashbuckling, saucer-eyed Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas, sending up his Zorro character).
King-in-Law and Queen-in-Law host the newlyweds, but the result is an awkward bit of rejection with more nuance than anything in Meet the Parents.
OSS 117: Lost in Rio (2009)
Directed by Michel Hazanavicius
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Visuals Themes
An Austin Powers-style spoof carried out with reasonable attention to aesthetic period detail (grainy cinematography, mod outfits, copious split screen effects), Michel Hazanavicius’ comedy charts 117’s efforts in swinging 1967 to track down a Nazi doctor (Rüdiger Vogler) planning to blackmail the French government with a list of WWII Vichy collaborators.
OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006) was a very funny satire of spy movies not unlike a French Austin Powers.
Like the "Austin Powers" films, the "117" series is a skillful parody of early 1960s spy movies, but more interested in lampooning Cold War cultural attitudes than mod fashions.
Sometimes a loving homage, mostly a savage parody, it was a completely hilarious send-up of hopelessly outmoded tropes, something of a French Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery , but funnier still.
Ramírez is the one who’s stretching out of his comfort zone here, but it never feels that way; the criminal vibe he channeled in the likes of “Wasp Network” and “Point Break” is refashioned into a conspiratorial dad energy that carries the movie’s biggest laughs (especially when it leads him toward “Meet the Parents” degrees of Ben Stiller body harm).
"Parents" is essentially a comedy of frustration, akin to the scripts that John Hughes devised for the original "Vacation" and then "Planes Trains and Automobiles"--or, on a far more exalted level, that of W.C. Fields for the incomparable 1934 "It's a Gift".
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)
Directed by Adam McKay
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Dialogue
Yeah, one of the jokes rips off a classic Mike Myers bit from the “Austin Powers” movies, but it’s obvious that Ferrell is willing to “go there” for the sake of keeping in character as Ron Burgundy and Good ably plays along.
When cult hits rise to the top of the pop cultural swamp it’s customary for them to be go the way of Austin Powers.
Undercover Brother (2002)
Directed by Malcolm D. Lee
influenced by Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
Themes
Not being familiar with Ridley's original Internet work, I can't state whether the rip-off started back then, but the fact that the film's other screenwriter, Michael McCullers, also co-penned the second and third "Austin Powers" films gives one the impression that he may have had a little more than something to do with the rather obvious similarities.
Or at least, a little different from the Austin Powers films.
You can tell that writer John Ridley enlisted the help of Austin Powers scribe Michael McCullers for the screenplay of Undercover Brother.
Just as Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery spoofed '60s British spy movies, Undercover Brother riffs wildly on the heroic ghetto action films of the '70s, embodied in Jim Kelly, Fred Williamson, Pam Grier and Richard Roundtree.
"Austin Powers" meets "Shaft" might have been the pitch, but that would have been a good movie.
Lee wants “Brother” to be his “Austin Powers,” using cheap and unfunny retro jokes and pop culture satire to seed his own desire for a franchise to call his own.