5Q Movie Review: The Love Guru

Q: Is Mike Myers' latest creation, Guru Pitka, as funny as Austin Powers?

A: No, not at all. In fact, after renting this movie last week, I think back to reading about what a perfectionist Myers is and how he worked so hard to craft this character, and I go, huh? There's not much to the guy except a nasally voice and a tendency to use a lot of "comical" acronyms.


Q: Well, is the movie stronger than the character? Could it be the equivalent of "Austin Powers 4"?

A: Hmm, possibly, but maybe not in the way you mean it, but in the sense that since Austin Powers 3 was such a dropoff, you'd expect the fourth to be even worse. There are some funny ideas and gags in "The Love Guru," but they don't amount to much. In the end, what you take away are the juvenile puns and potty humor. That stuff was a lot funnier coming from Austin Powers in the context of spy/sixties spoofs. Here, it often seems desperate. Also, some of the gags are recycled at least in spirit from the Austin flicks. Take Ben Kingsley's cross-eyed guru, another instance of Myers asking us to laugh at both the physical oddity and his own character's reactions to that oddity. It's kind of old now.
Oh, and Verne Troyer is back, this time exploring an entirely new kind of character as he does a subtle homage to Woody Allen's character in--ah, who am I kidding? He's back so Myers can make some size jokes.


Q: Sorry, but I have to ask: Does Jessica Alba look hot?

A: She's a beautiful young woman, but her casting as owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs is a little ridiculous. Actually, her whole character and storyline is ridiculous, but at least we don't have to see a full-on sex scene between her and Myers. And, oh, if you're wondering, there are two brief scenes in which she wears fetching Bollywood-style costumes and dances, but they don't make the movie much better.


Q: Hockey? Did this really have to be about hockey?

A: Yeah, really. At times, you get the feeling Myers just used this project as a vehicle for his obsessions. Hockey is one of them, of course. But also, the film's meager running time is padded by two full songs Myers sings in character. The closing number feels like a cheat to add something before the credits, and while the performance of Extreme's "More Than Words" is apparently meant as comedy, it's a waste of time.


Q: So is Mike Myers' live-action career over?

A: Whoa, I don't know about that. There's always the real "Austin 4." I think "The Love Guru" has enough funny spots to be worth seeing on pay cable, say, and I don't know why it tanked like it did in theaters. I mean, I'm glad I didn't buy a ticket, but it's not horrible or anything. Seeing it does give me the impression that Myers could use some collaboration with a strong comic voice to freshen up his own ideas. This time out, he recycles a lot of the same ideas and trots out another accent, but the execution is not fresh enough to make the repetition worthwhile.

As one more example, take Guru Pitka's mantra, "Mariska Hargitay." The average filmgoer may or may not find that inherently funny, but I would argue that the constant repetition of it early on dulls any comic value it has. Then Myers kills the joke by having the character actually meet Hargitay the person, and then he continues using the phrase as a punchline throughout.