We're not worthy: The best and worst Mike Myers movies

Just three years after joining the cast of SNL, Mike Myers’ most popular sketch made the jump from the small screen to the silver screen. Wayne’s World starred Myers and Dana Carvey as the partying rock music fans Wayne and Garth, Tia Carrere as Wayne’s love interest Cassandra, and Rob Lowe as the duo’s foil in the film. The movie was a total bomb —NOT! Against a budget of just $20 million, the hilarious buddy comedy (including Lara Flynn Boyle, Brian Doyle-Murray, Chris Farley, Ed O'Neill, Alice Cooper, and Meat Loaf) shattered expectations and grossed an excellent $183 million. Schwing!

So I Married an Axe Murderer was supposed to be an even darker comedy, but when Mike Myers was cast in the lead as Charlie, he overhauled the script and added more SNL-style laughs. The resulting script worked, and this story of love, commitment, and suspicion that your spouse is a serial killer was a hit with audiences despite only a modest showing at the box office. It featured Nancy Travis, Anthony LaPaglia, Amanda Plummer, and Brenda Fricker in supporting roles, as well as cameos by Alan Arkin, Michael Richards, and Phil Hartman. Myers also played Charlie’s Scottish father, Stuart, a role unsuccessfully offered to numerous notable actors before being given to Myers based on his hilarious table read.

Mike Myers has never shied away from a sequel, and for good reason: His first sequel, 1993’s Wayne’s World 2, cost $40 million but brought in almost twice that in ticket sales. Wayne, Garth, and Cassandra all returned, but Lowe’s TV producer antagonist was replaced by a music producer named Bobby, played by Christopher Walken. Like both of Myers’ previous films, Wayne’s World 2 included a huge haul of cameos as Wayne and Garth attempted to put on a concert and prevent Cassandra from marrying Bobby.

Mike Myers wrote and starred in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery as a libidinous secret agent who is cryogenically frozen in the 1960s, thawed out in the ‘90s and paired with fellow agent Vanessa Kensington (Elizabeth Hurley) as the two pursue the supervillain Dr. Evil (also played by Myers). Written by Myers as a tribute to the British films and music introduced to him by his father, the combination of spy movie spoofs, pop culture parodies, witty jokes, slapstick humor, and sight gags resulted in frequent laughs in this endlessly quotable comedy that became an instant classic. It was honestly difficult to go anywhere in the late ‘90s without hearing someone yell, “Yeah, baby!” or other lines from the film.

Unlike his previous films, 54 was not commercially or critically successful. It wasn’t a comedy but a drama about the Manhattan nightclub Studio 54 starring Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, Breckin Meyer, and Neve Campbell. Although the film as a whole was panned and even earned two Razzie nominations, Myers received some praise for his portrayal of real-life Studio 54 co-owner and entrepreneur Steve Rubell. 

Mike Myers was just one member of the insanely talented cast of the mockumentary The Thin Pink Line , which also featured Jennifer Aniston, Will Ferrell, Janeane Garofalo, Jason Priestley, David Schwimmer, Molly Shannon, Maura Tierney, Margaret Cho, Alexis Arquette, Andy Richter, David Cross, and Taylor Negron. Good luck finding this extremely rare oddball film about a male model convicted of murder — it was only released on DVD in Japan — but if you happen to get your hands on a copy, give it a watch (even though Myers is only in it for a couple of minutes).

Mike Myers’ second dramatic film fared even worse than his first. In Pete’s Meteor, Myers played a drug-dealing Dublin junkie who must suddenly provide for the children of his recently deceased brother. Joe O'Byrne wrote and directed this 1998 film, which was roundly criticized by the few people who actually saw it. It’s notable for featuring the reunion of Myers and Brenda Fricker, but this time, both were doing Irish accents instead of Scottish ones.

Austin Powers returned in this 1999 sequel with a new lady by his side (Heather Graham), Dr. Evil (Myers) up to his old tricks, and a new foe: The appropriately yet inappropriately named henchman Fat Basŧard (Myers again). Critics weren’t quite as kind this time around, but audiences were still just as hot for the swinging secret agent as he traveled back in time to stop Dr. Evil from building a giant laser beam on the moon.

The 1999 sports dramedy Mystery, Alaska wasn’t well received by critics, but that’s not Mike Myers’ fault, as he only had a very minor role in the film as TV hockey analyst Donnie Shulzhoffer. Donnie had a couple of funny lines, and the rest of the cast, which included Russell Crowe, Hank Azaria, and Burt Reynolds, performed admirably. Still, it wasn’t enough to save this movie about a small-town hockey team that gets an opportunity to face off against the New York Rangers.

For those too young to know Wayne Campbell or Austin Powers, Mike Myers is known best for playing a lovable, green, Scottish-accented ogre named Shrek. Although it was ostensibly just another animated kids' movie, Shrek was groundbreaking for its ability to entertain kids and their parents simultaneously. It was a fairytale, but it also spoofed and skewed countless classic fairytales. It had plenty of silly, immature humor but also some jokes and double-entendres that sailed right over the heads of little ones. Oh, and it had a star-studded cast (featuring the voices of Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow), brought in nearly $500 million at the box office, and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

Was the third time the charm for the Austin Powers trilogy? Not really. Goldmember was arguably the weakest installment, but we still laughed our heads off through all 94 minutes. In addition to Myers playing Powers, Dr. Evil, and Fat Basŧard, he was the titular Goldmember with Beyonce as his sidekick, Michael Caine as his dad, and more celebrity cameos than we could possibly list here. Like the previous film, Goldmember hauled in about $300 million. 

Mike Myers appeared in three films in 2003, and all of them were pretty bad. The first one, Nobody Knows Anything , had an all-star cast that included Alanna Ubach, Fred Willard, Ben Stiller, Stephen Colbert, Margaret Cho, Robert Englund, Janeane Garofalo, Kristen Johnston, Richard Kind, and Tim Meadows, but ultimately, this send-up of the entertainment industry fell flat critically and financially. Although it was amusing at times — and Myers’ bit is worthy of a chuckle — this indie comedy didn’t land, never found a cult following, and true to its title, nobody knows anything about it nowadays. 

View from the Top was so bad that even its star, Gwyneth Paltrow, later called the flight attendant rom-com “ the worst movie ever!” But at least Mike Myers had some funny scenes as an offbeat instructor with a lazy eye. (Back in 2003, we saw the movie just for him!) 

Mike Myers pulled off a box office bomb hat trick in 2003 with the release of The Cat in the Hat. In this Dr. Seuss adaptation, Myers starred as the titular anthropomorphic cat and all his various disguised identities, but multiple manifestations of Myers weren’t enough to save this bizarre, potty humor-filled disaster. We even know kids who hate this film, and they usually love everything!

After stumbling upon a formula that worked for the first Shrek film, Dreamworks doubled down on everything for the 2004 sequel. In addition to more of Myers, Murphy, and Diaz, the franchise welcomed Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, and John Cleese, with Banderas’ Puss in Boots character nearly stealing the whole show. It again earned two Oscar nods, and although it didn’t win one this time, Shrek 2 nearly doubled the box office earnings of its predecessor to the tune of $935 million.

There was no stopping the Shrek train in the 2000s, and a second installment was followed by a third in 2007. Unfortunately, Shrek the Third lacked some of its predecessors' heart and universal likability, even though it was still an entertaining family comedy. Justin Timberlake, Amy Sedaris, John Krasinski, Seth Rogen, and SNL actresses Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Cheri Oteri were all added to the cast, and the film still scored a big payday with $813 million in ticket sales.

Myers’ return to screenwriting didn’t go as planned. The Love Guru is the story of a guru tasked with helping the star of the Toronto Maple Leafs overcome his marital issues and win the Stanley Cup. Although it was a who’s-who of comedians, the rom-com didn’t have nearly enough clever jokes and instead leaned heavily on every type of crude humor. Critics criticized it, audiences avoided it, and The Love Guru failed to earn back its budget. 

Mike Myers’ mother and father served in World War II (in the Women’s Royal Air Force and British Army, respectively), so he personally requested a role in the Quentin Tarantino WWII film Inglourious Basterds. Fittingly, Myers played a British general. The role was a small but integral part of this epic war film that earned critical praise, eight Academy Award nominations, and $321 million.

The Shrek franchise could have worn out its welcome with a fourth film, but that wasn’t the case with Shrek Forever After . It may not have had the magic of the first two films, but this more complex story with added star power (Jon Hamm, Jane Lynch, Craig Robinson, and Kristen Schaal were among the newcomers) still received love from fans and critics alike for its characters and humor, with most agreeing that it was at least as good as the third installment. $756 million at the box office was solid evidence of this.

Despite a strong effort by star Margot Robbie and the compelling, against-type performances of both Mike Myers and Simon Pegg,  Terminal failed to find a lot of fans. Few turned up in theaters to watch this neo-noir revenge story, and those who did lamented its wasted characters, subpar script, and overly complicated, trope-heavy plot. That’s a pity, as Myers contributed heavily to the big twist in Terminal, which was partly pulled off by the actor’s prosthetic-aided ability to play drastically different characters.

The most memorable scene in Wayne’s World is Wayne, Garth, and their buddies riding in a car and lip-syncing to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” How fitting that Myers would later receive a small role in the 2018 Queen biopic of the same name. Adding some irony, Myers played a fictional record exec who balked at the idea of releasing “Bohemian Rhapsody” as a lead single, causing the band to leave the label. Despite a mixed-to-warm reception, the biopic won four Academy Awards and two Golden Globes, including the Best Picture award at the latter event.

This one is a borderline call. Audiences generally enjoyed David O. Russell’s period piece mystery about three friends (played by Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington) who attempt to uncover a conspiracy to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration and install a dictatorship. But critics were less impressed by the supposedly weak script, poor editing, and scattershot retelling of this true event. Accuracy aside, we were entertained by the tale and its all-star cast — and we enjoyed seeing Myers in another British role, this time as a quirky bird-watching MI6 agent.