Friday, June 20, 2008

Movie review: The Love Guru

By Alex Bentley

The Love Guru

Pitka is an American who was left at the gates of an ashram in India as a child and raised by gurus. He moves back to the United States to seek fame and fortune in the world of self-help and spirituality. His unorthodox methods are put to the test when he must settle a rift between Toronto Maple Leafs star hockey player Darren Roanoke and his estranged wife. After the split, Roanoke's wife starts dating L.A. Kings star Jacques Grande out of revenge, sending her husband into a major professional skid--to the horror of the teams' owner Jane Bullard and Coach Cherkov. Pitka must return the couple to marital nirvana and get Roanoke back on his game so the team can break the 40-year-old "Bullard Curse" and win the Stanley Cup.

Source: Cinema Source

• Showtimes and more on The Love Guru

Mike Myers arrives back on the (live action) film scene in a world much different than the one he left. It’s been five years since he appeared in a movie as anything but the voice for a big green ogre, and comedies have generally evolved to include more realistic, if still broad, characters. Does his brand of comedy, i.e. playing a caricature underneath pounds of makeup, still play as well in his new film, The Love Guru?

That’d be mostly a "no" with the occasional "yes." Myers is Guru Pitka (aka Maurice Pitka), an American who grew up idolizing Indian philosophy, going so far as to study at the feet of Guru Tugginmypudha (Ben Kingsley) alongside that other Indian guru, Deepak Chopra. As an adult, Pitka has drawn a loyal following and developed a reputation as a love guru, despite a serious impediment toward him actually experiencing love himself.

The owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba), calls on Pitka’s services when her star player, Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco), goes into a funk just before the Stanley Cup finals after he breaks up with his wife. Pitka must heal Roanoke before…okay, there’s really no stakes here. Just as sure as Austin Powers would defeat Dr. Evil, Pitka is guaranteed to find a way to make Roanoke see the light and help him win both the girl and the title. It’s only a matter of how many and what kind of jokes Myers can throw in to make it as funny as possible.

Just grin and bear it -- it'll be over soon.

And there are a ton of jokes – unfortunately, most of them either go by too quick or fall flat to be called humorous. There are some laugh-out-loud moments (Myers putting his adult face on Pitka’s child body, callbacks to famous moments in his career like the "Bohemian Rhapsody" scene in Wayne’s World or his infamous pairing with Kanye West in the post-Katrina telethon), but that’s all they are – moments. Myers’ obsession with sex and bodily function jokes dominates the film’s landscape, and while some of them do hit the mark, more often than not they’re just tired retreads of stuff that stopped being funny in Austin Powers in Goldmember.

Justin Timberlake showing why he's the funniest actor in the movie.

Most of the actors in the film can’t rise above the material. Myers hams it up mercifully, but that’s what the part calls for, so no harm, no foul with him. Alba is severely miscast, as her comedic skills are nearly non-existent. Same goes for Verne Troyer (aka Mini-Me) as the Leafs’ coach; he’s much funnier when he doesn’t speak (the constant "small" jokes made at his expense don’t work, either, although a scene in his office is priceless). In fact, about the only person who leaves a memorable impression is Justin Timberlake as Jacques "Le Coq" Grande, goalkeeper for the L.A. Kings who has an enormous…well, look at his nickname. His ridiculous French-Canadian accent, his awful perm, his obsession with Celine Dion – all of it is so over-the-top that he steals every scene he’s in.

It’s possible that The Love Guru will grow in popularity upon repeated viewings, a la the original Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (most people forget that the first film was not a hit, and the sequels only got greenlit once it became big on cable and video). The more clever jokes – Pitka’s various mantras, his book titles ("Stop Hitting Yourself. Stop Hitting Yourself. Why Are You Still Hitting Yourself?") and multiple celebrity cameos – will likely give off better impressions the more you see them. But on first viewing, The Love Guru is just a middling comedy with too much emphasis on the low-brow.

Related stories

• Movie review: Meet Dave (July 11, 2008)
• Guru continues a racist filmmaking tradition (June 19, 2008)

See more stories in:

• Arts > Movies / Film > Mainstream Movies

Comments

Amy Seslowsky Staff

What's up with all of the prominent bulges in movies recently?

3 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

jtmbls Anonymous

Socks! There is no way that little JT is packin' that much heat!

3 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )