Mike Myers may be the most frustrating comedic actor in Hollywood. Ever since his success on Saturday Night Live and his legendary turns as Wayne Campbell and Austin Powers, it’s tough to believe Myers hasn’t starred in a non-franchise film since 1998. What has he been waiting for?
The Love Guru, directed by first-timer Marco Schnabel, has been advertised as Myers’ latest “original” comedy – the term “original” being relative to Myers’s sequel-happy filmography. Such a long hiatus from stand-alone films seems to have brought Myers a case of particularly bad karma.
While Powers and Campbell are considered sexually edgy (consider “Shwing!” and “Do I make you horny, baby?”), Guru Pitka goes over the top. As a sexually-frustrated American boy raised in India, Guru Pitka comes to America to beat out his childhood rival Deepak Chopra not in wisdom, but in celebrity. He befriends stars such as Jessica Simpson and Mariska Hargitay (her name is Pitka’s foreign-sounding conventional greeting throughout the whole movie), and his lavish lifestyle seems far from what you might expect from a guru.
Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba, The Eye), the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, hires the Guru to offer his famous self-help to the Leaf’s troubled star player, Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco, Baby Mama) to sort out his marital issues with wife Prudence (Meagan Good, One Missed Call), before his mental malfunctions impact the Leaf’s chance to win the Stanley Cup. What does the sought-after Guru get in return? A spot on The Oprah Winfrey Show, of course!
Is the movie predictable? Yes. But does the plot matter at all? Not really. The comedy is unabashedly mindless. One character’s name is Jacques “Le Coq” Grande and another guy’s name is Richard “Dick” Pants. The movie is grounded in an endless stream of dick, fart and midget jokes.
The Love Guru also banks on “ethnic” humor, using the Indian-esque “guru” prototype to set up a long list of puns … 88 minutes worth, to be exact. After all, people hear self-proclaimed “gurus” sound wise by creating adages or easy-to-remember idioms to simplify high-end philosophy; Myers flips that tradition by transforming seemingly-profound phrases into a double entendres, puns and dirty jokes. And more than half of the time, it’s pretty hilarious.
For the remainder, it’s not. The fact is, not too much thought went into this movie after the initial concept. In nearly every scene, Myers flashes the audience a smile that seems to confidently say, “Yes, I’m here to cash a check.”
Myers’ career choices may be frustrating (we know he has it in him, if he can do Austin Powers and Wayne’s World), but The Love Guru, while not answering all of your Myers needs, offers a glimmer of hope. There are a few choice scenes that hit hard and some that miss completely, but you’ve got to admire the man for sticking to his guns.
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RATING: 2 out of 5 STARS
