Movie Review | The Love Guru

The Love Guru is perhaps one of the most critically-slaughtered comedies of the past decade. In fact, I don’t remember reading movie reviews that were this bad. In fact, let me quote the New York Times review that said: “The Love Guru” is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again”

Honestly, it wasn’t thaaaat bad. Sure, it wasn’t Mike Myers at his best, but I honestly think that his Guru Maurice Pitka is just a memorable character as the others in his artilary, such as Wayne Campbell and Austin Powers. Well, maybe not Powers. Nevertheless. To enjoy this movie you have to really love Mike Myers. I mean, you have to be one of those Mike Myer fans that will laugh at almost anything he says or does, as well as his obvious comedic sensibilities you can find widely scattered throughout the script that he co-wrote. You also have to be forgiving of the fact that it’s been 6 years since the last Austin Powers movie, so he’s a bit out of shape. Oh, and it helps if you’re Canadian and like hockey. It really does. (Myers is both Canadian and an avid Toronto Maple Leafs fan; Jessica Alba is half Canadian)

The jokes are a bit crude with obvious sexual-innuendos that are common in his Austin Power films. A lot of Myers’ comedic scenes where he takes his time with a joke and plays it out slowly work out pretty well, but not all of them. There are plenty of cameo appearances that also play out well such as Law & Order SVU’s Mariska Hargitay – whose name is used by Myers as an Indian “greeting” – as well as a brief moment with Kanye West towards the end, that recalls a very infamous moment in TV history. Probably some of the best moments in the movie are the musical interludes. Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”, Extreme’s “More Than Words”, and The Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker” are all brilliantly done by Myers and backed up, in true Indian tradition, by a sitar.

So it’s not Myers best film, but if you’ve got nothing better to do for 88 minutes; enjoy.

2.5/5