SYNOPSIS:
Mike Myers is back with his most hilarious character since Austin Powers, and this time he’s working his mojo Kama Sutra-styles as the outrageous Guru Pitka!
Vying for the title of the world’s best self-help guru, Pitka must help a star hockey player win his wife back from rival athlete Jacques “Le Coq” Grande (Justin Timberlake) and, along with it, the Stanley Cup. Will Pitka’s comic karmic intervention be enough to turn this losing team into champions?
MOVIE REVIEW:
Eight
years it has been since Mike Myers’ last wrote a character
vehicle for himself- since Austin Powers previous outing in
Goldmember- and it seems that the comedian has somewhat lost
his Midas touch.
Indeed,
his latest creation, the Guru Pitka, has little of the inventiveness
or charm of his earlier brain-childs. Rather, the Guru Pitka
is a rude, hyperactive, more child than man (despite his incessant
jibes at “Mini-Me” Verne Troyer’s Coach
Punch Cherkov) character that you would like to give a hard
right smack across the face. That’s just how much love
this Guru Pitka is going to get from you.
Like his
earlier, far superior creations Wayne’s World and Austin
Powers, Mike Myers both writes and stars as the titular character.
As the writer of this farce, Mike Myers goes overindulgent
in the basest, crudest and most unfunny ways possible (unless
you consider two people fighting with mops soaked in urine
anything less than repulsive).
Indeed,
although the trademark ‘wink-wink’ play on character
names (Guru Tugginmypudha for example) and acronyms may inspire
a chuckle or two, the rest of the movie is an elephantine
mess of the kind of humour that seems scribbled in the walls
of a toilet cubicle. And I say elephantine because that’s
the only way to describe the climax where two elephants do
it in the middle of an ice hockey field.
As the
actor of this nonsense, he seems to love his on-set improvisations
a little too much. Yes, it appears that he has given free
rein to his tendency to end his scenes with some bit of smart
remark or gesture he made up impromptu. Unfortunately, while
some are mildly funny, there are many instances where they
simply fall flat.
Alas,
first-time director Marco Schnabel seems to be too in love
with Mike Myers’ shticks that he has allowed Mike Myers
to almost do what he pleases in the movie. It makes one wonder
how different this movie could have been were long-time collaborator
Jay Roach were on board instead. While Jay Roach shot to popularity
directing the Austin Powers series, it is clear that Marco
Schnabel (with his lack of comic sensibilities here) will
not have any such luck with The Love Guru.
Compared
to Mike Myers here, Justin Timberlake as an obnoxious, arrogant
French ice hockey player Jacques “Le Coq” Grande
is the scene stealer. His first comedic role since starting
out in the acting business, he disappears in a role much like
Tom Cruise did in Tropic Thunder. No such luck though for
Jessica Alba. Beautiful looks aside, she seems to disappear
into the background amid the shenanigans of Myers and Timberlake.
It’s
hard to envisage what sort of cheer the makers of this movie
were hoping that audiences will get out of it. The movie does
have its moments, but they are so brief and few that this
can only be considered an embarrassment for those involved-
especially, of course, for the one who wrote/ starred/ produced
it, Mike Myers.
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
There are 3 featurettes on this disc: Mike Myers and
the Love Guru: An Inside Look takes a brief behind
the scenes at the making of this movie; One Helluva
Elephant shows how both the real and the animatronics
thing were used on set; and Hockey Training for Actors
demonstrates the preparation Romany Malco and Justin Timberlake
underwent to shoot their ice hockey scenes.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Nice, clean visuals that bring out
the film’s colourful visual palette. The Dolby 5.1 track
works especially fine for the scenes on the ice.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING:
Review by Gabriel Chong |
