As I grow up, I find myself rethinking many of the attitudes and decisions I made when I was a lot younger. The thought of taking care of a Tamagotchi is much less appealing to me now than when I was in third grade, the Ewoks are not nearly as lovable as I once believed and I’m still waiting to get rich selling Beanie Babies. For a long time, as well, I believed that Mike Myers could do no wrong, but like digital pets and a certain species from Endor, I’m beginning to rethink that decision I made a long time ago.

It seems strange that I’m writing to bury the career of someone who by all accounts is still thriving in the tough business of Hollywood. As the voice of a certain ogre, Myers has grossed over a billion dollars internationally between box-office revenues, DVD sales and merchandising. But as I look up and down his filmography, Myers has made more missteps than savvy career movies, more embarrassing flops than smash hits.

Mike Myers has embodied some of the most beloved characters on film in the last 15 years. He was Wayne in “Wayne’s World,” a film that was self-aware but still really funny (and still one of the few “Saturday Night Live” sketches ever successfully translated to film) and of course, both Austin Powers and Dr. Evil in the “Austin Powers” series. But he was also the eponymous Cat in the Hat in the dreadful adaptation and has starred in so many dreadful films and sequels it’s impossible to list them all in the space the Cardinal gives me. Do “54,” “View from the Top” or “Pete’s Meteor” ring any bells? No, I didn’t think so.

What saddens me the most as I think about the career Myers could have had is I see so much time and reputation capital spent on horrific movies. “Austin Powers” could have been one movie, two at the most, and became a cult DVD in its own right. Instead, it became a temporary cultural zeitgeist that died as quickly as it was conceived. “Shrek” was an engaging film, but by this point DreamWorks’ animation studio has run the franchise into the ground, and every film they release shares the “Shrek” fondness for parodying popular culture. Nothing Myers has done in the past 10 years is new or especially exciting, but he’s still treated like comedy royalty.

And it’s probably about to get worse. In his first non-ogre film in five years, Myers will be playing Pitka, “The Love Guru,” which co-stars universally revered comedienne ... wait for it ... Jessica Alba!

It’s not ending there, either. Last week, Myers confirmed web reports that “Austin Powers 4” is on the way, reportedly co-starring another legend of comedy: Gisele Bündchen. Fans of Myers deserve a costar with a better résumé than “Taxi,” her only real film role to date. But the bigger issue at hand is when it will be enough for Myers. How many more laughs can one possibly squeeze out of “Yeah, baby!” and “Oh, behave”? Didn’t those catchphrases die a long time ago? (I’m also not sure how Bündchen’s boyfriend Tom Brady feels about the role, but my guess is he isn’t threatened by the possibility of Pitt-Jolie-type romance, while he plays the Jennifer Aniston role.)

It saddens me to see one of my favorite comedic actors hurting his reputation on bankable sequels when his strength was always finding someone new and interesting to become. Perhaps time-traveling ’60s superspy Austin Powers has finally found a place in time where he’s no longer relevant.

_Maybe the real question is why Myers decided to make “So I Married an Axe Murderer.” Let Brad know what you think and send him an e-mail at_ boron@wisc.edu.