The Love Guru Movie Review
THE LOVE GURU: MIKE MYERS AT HIS SILLIEST
Wayne Campbell. Austin Powers. Mike Myers has come up with some of the most memorable movie characters of the past twenty years. With his new film The Love Guru he doesn’t hold back and produces another ride through the wackiness that is Mike Myers. Prepare yourself for a lewd, crude, and hilarious time.
The Guru Pitka (Mike Myers) has celebrity friends. He has beautiful servants. He is famous. But he is second to Deepak Chopra in the enlightenment business and he doesn’t like it one bit. His dream is to be a guest on Oprah. So when he is told that if he can get Toronto Maple Leafs’ hockey star Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco) back together with his wife Prudence (Meagan Good) he will achieve his dream, he jumps at the chance. Maple Leafs owner Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba) approaches him to save the team as they haven’t won the Stanley Cup since her father bought the team. She attributes their current season to Roanoke’s off game. His off game is due to Roanoke’s falling out with his wife. The catch is Prudence is dating rival hockey star Jacques “Le Coq” Grande (Justin Timberlake). Guru Pitka has to figure out a way to get her away from “Le Coq” and get her to forgive Roanoke for his past misdeeds.
The storyline is average. It has a basic plot. Hero has a dream. Hero has to overcome obstacles to achieve dream and get the girl. Hero does both. But the story isn’t the attraction. It is Myers’ ability to create a character and to make it memorable. He dives into the Indian culture and never looks back. He has innuendos galore, clever sayings, and zinger one liners. He has taken Austin Powers into the Indian world and turned up the volume to eleven. Even just his way of saying thank you is memorable (if you haven’t heard it yet, I won’t spoil it). As for the rest of the cast, there are some hits and misses. Jessica Alba is just plain eye candy and that is it. Her acting ability has diminished with each new film she is in (what happened to the talent we saw in Dark Angel?) She is no match for Myers. But there are some cameos that will make you laugh out loud such as Stephen Colbert and Jim Gaffigan as NHL commentators. Myers performs his character well, but he couldn’t do it without the bright Indian attire, flowing facial hair, and traveling pillow. All of it sets the tone along with the Ashram, traveling elephant, and even the Bollywood daydreams. It is all done to the nth degree.
Jessica Alba is pleasant to look out. But in a movie where everybody is giving 110%, she brings the team down. She is wooden and one dimensional. She has the capability to become a talented actress again but to do so would mean taking lesser roles in films that have more substance. If she doesn’t she might become the next Jessica Simpson in the movie business.
The Love Guru is fun. It will make you laugh. Myers is the star and proves why with this story about a man who wants to become the next Deepak Chopra. Myers is close friends with Chopra in the real world. He couldn’t have paid a better compliment to the man, showing him that laughter is the best medicine.
Report Card:
Story-C
Acting-C+
Visuals-B
Originality/Innovation-B
Enjoyability Grade–B+
Overall Grade-B
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