Jun 19, 2008 3:52 pm US/Mountain
'The Love Guru'
By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer
(AP)
In "The Love Guru," Mike Myers must come to love himself before he
can love others. From the credits of this scattershot comedy sketch
stretched and strained to movie length, Myers clearly loved himself to
the point of narcissism going in.
Besides starring, Myers is a producer and co-writer. He's in the
cast list four times — three times for the same character (Guru Pitka,
Young Pitka and Teenage Pitka) and for a two-second cameo as himself.
The song credits feature three tunes performed by Myers, among them
Eastern-inflected and mystically bad versions of Dolly Parton's "9 to
5" and Steve Miller's "The Joker."
And Myers mercilessly inflicts some of his favorite things on the
audience — his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs and Verne Troyer, the tiny
actor who played Mini-Me in two of the "Austin Powers" flicks.
Self-love does not seem to be an issue for Myers, unlike Pitka, the
world's second-best guru, who carries a chip on his shoulder from
growing up in the shadow of top-seeded rival Deepak Chopra (who makes a
brief appearance in "The Love Guru").
Looking like a cross between Beatles guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and
Charles Manson, Pitka seems to have it all: A popular self-help
regimen, a lush L.A. ashram with celebrity fawners, even his own
spiritual greeting, "Mariska Hargitay." It's cute at first but wears
thin by the 20th or 30th time Pitka and his followers appropriate the
"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" actress' name.
The orphan Pitka was raised along with Chopra by the cross-eyed
Indian Guru Tugginmypuddha (Ben Kingsley, who's a long, long way from
"Gandhi" here).
The teenage Pitka is put into a chastity belt until he can learn to
love himself. For all his success counseling others on romance, the
adult Pitka still has his privates encased in the metal contraption.
Enter Jessica Alba. She's Jane Bullard, the owner of the Maple Leafs
(yeah, right), and her star player, Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco), has
hit a slump just as the team has a shot at winning its first Stanley
Cup in 40 years.
Darren's lovesick because his wife has taken up with well-endowed
Jacques "Le Coq" Grande (Justin Timberlake), the goalie for the L.A.
Kings, the Leafs' rivals in the finals.
So Jane engages Pitka to smooth things over between Darren and his
wife. Of course, Jane herself falls for Myers' hoary Pitka (yeah,
right), forcing the love guru to resolve his own inner conflicts.
Myers spent years honing Pitka, the first original character he has
dreamed up in more than a decade, since the first "Austin Powers" movie
arrived. Even putting all that time in on Pitka, Myers, co-writer
Graham Gordy and first-time director Marco Schnabel (filmmaker Jay
Roach's aide on the "Austin Powers" movies) come up with only a few
real laughs.
Most of the gags are half-hearted, many puzzling and unfunny lines
delivered by Myers with his trademark sly stare into the camera, as
though waiting for fans to guffaw. He may have a long wait.
Myers pushes the PG-13 rating with the movie's bawdy language,
coarse images and scatological humor involving such things as elephant
dung and a fight with urine-soaked mops.
The first half of "The Love Guru" meanders drearily, but the climax
packs a few chuckles. Otherwise an irritant as the Leafs' crusty coach,
Troyer is the subject of an amusing slapstick moment near the finale.
With thick '70s-style hair and moustache, an outrageous
French-Canadian accent and undying devotion to Celine Dion, Timberlake
goofs it up and occasionally enlivens the movie.
Given nothing remotely challenging to do, Alba comes off as bland and hollow.
Obviously having fun playing Pitka, Myers' earnestness makes some
lines seem funnier than they are. But his zeal cannot save most of the
empty jokes from landing with a deadly thud.
Self-referential — or self-reverential — moments also include a
snippet where a car radio briefly tunes in Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody,"
Myers undergoing a fleeting flashback to "Wayne's World," when he and
Dana Carvey led a group sing-along to the song.
Myers wants us all to love him, wants us all to be in on his
jokes. But love and laughs are earned, not given just because you mug
for the camera behind a wild wig and beard.
"The Love Guru," a Paramount release, is rated PG-13 for crude
and sexual content throughout, language, some comic violence and drug
references. Running time: 88 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
