The Love Guru can very easily be called a really dumb movie. But unlike most dumb comedies these days, it actually made me laugh. Perhaps it is because a lot of Mike Myers’ golden lines are ad-libbed, but the humor in The Love Guru isn’t as predictable so the surprise factor goes a long way. And while I won’t say I think everyone needs to rush out to buy the movie, I do think it is worth renting at the very least.
The Love Guru is an "East meets West" comedy starring Myers, Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, and Romany Malco. Not counting his voice-over work, Mike Myers makes his return to the screen after a five-year absence as the Guru Pitka, who is trying to beat Deepak Chopra as the world’s best self-help guru. Pitka and his team decide that helping a hockey player fix his marriage and win the Stanley Cup will be their key to success. And it is that tale that The Love Guru follows.
Pitka is a popular relationship guru with some popular followers — Jessica Simpson, Val Kilmer, and Mariska Hargitay make cameos. His teachings don’t really follow any religion and even his greeting is made up, hence Mariska Hargitay’s appearance. Some of Pitka’s antics are the same potty humor we come to expect from Mike Myers, like the extended diarrhea noises in the bar or game of stink mop where they fight with mops dipped in urine. Of course, what would a movie about a love guru be without the guru’s own romance?
Guru Pitka is like a fake philosophy-touting Austin Powers, with similar quirks and gags as found in the Austin Powers flicks. But those work for Myers so while sex gags, catch phrases, and silly costumes aren’t new to the big screen, they still garner giggles from the audience. The plot is somewhat petty and perhaps considered racist — he’s a white dude speaking with a bad Indian accent — but if not taken seriously, this movie is still 86 minutes of entertainment. I don’t think it has hit the mark of Austin Powers, so it may not be a home run of a return to the big screen, but as I said earlier, it is a dumb movie.
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