My Take: Too much shock humor but not any real laughs; there's very little show of Myers talents here.
Although we all know him by name, we really got to know Mike Myers not from his name but from the name of the characters he plays. In fact, if his name wasn't so prominent in the credits, we would get to know him as the guy who played Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Wayne, as well as the voice of Shrek. Bu recently, the characters he plays are like retreads of his old acts. First there's THE CAT IN THE HAT, which didn't really go so well. And now here's THE LOVE GURU. Well, Myers is still the best thing about THE LOVE GURU, but he can't save it. Not only is his act unoriginal, Myers tries to throw in every single sex joke or gross-out humor and see which one sticks.
Myers plays his most forgettable character yet as Guru Pitka aka Maurice, who plays every single joke in the Mike Myers' book. From the witty word play and the funny accents, there's not much more original in this act that all he does is paint-by-numbers. I give credit, however, to Myers for doing whatever he can with the character and does score maybe a few puns. Now ask yourself how good those puns are compared to those that don't work? Guys hitting each other with mops covered in pee? Ben Kingsley being awful as Maurice's cross-eyed guru? An elephant sex scene? I'm beginning to wonder if I was watching a comedy or a test of endurance. It's as if the movie already wants you to leave by the 15-minute mark, and this movie is supposed to be mercifully short with an 87-minute running time.
Everyone else in the supporting cast is embarrassing; funny thing is they seem to enjoy doing so. Jessica Alba, who seems to like appearing in every bad film her agent gets her into, is your typical love interest. Justin Timberlake gives an awful performance in an awful excuse of a comical character. And the list goes on, with some truly unnecessary cameos by Stephen Colbert, Val Kilmer, Jessica Simpson, and Kanye West. Besides perhaps a few witty word puns and some shtick about a moving remote control pillow (hey, there's got to be one scene I laughed in, but I just can't recall), THE LOVE GURU is quite an unfunny disaster, but I don't want to bring down Myers' spirit. Mike Myers, you're still funny, just stop making these movies.
Rating: * out of 5.
Although we all know him by name, we really got to know Mike Myers not from his name but from the name of the characters he plays. In fact, if his name wasn't so prominent in the credits, we would get to know him as the guy who played Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Wayne, as well as the voice of Shrek. Bu recently, the characters he plays are like retreads of his old acts. First there's THE CAT IN THE HAT, which didn't really go so well. And now here's THE LOVE GURU. Well, Myers is still the best thing about THE LOVE GURU, but he can't save it. Not only is his act unoriginal, Myers tries to throw in every single sex joke or gross-out humor and see which one sticks.
Myers plays his most forgettable character yet as Guru Pitka aka Maurice, who plays every single joke in the Mike Myers' book. From the witty word play and the funny accents, there's not much more original in this act that all he does is paint-by-numbers. I give credit, however, to Myers for doing whatever he can with the character and does score maybe a few puns. Now ask yourself how good those puns are compared to those that don't work? Guys hitting each other with mops covered in pee? Ben Kingsley being awful as Maurice's cross-eyed guru? An elephant sex scene? I'm beginning to wonder if I was watching a comedy or a test of endurance. It's as if the movie already wants you to leave by the 15-minute mark, and this movie is supposed to be mercifully short with an 87-minute running time.
Everyone else in the supporting cast is embarrassing; funny thing is they seem to enjoy doing so. Jessica Alba, who seems to like appearing in every bad film her agent gets her into, is your typical love interest. Justin Timberlake gives an awful performance in an awful excuse of a comical character. And the list goes on, with some truly unnecessary cameos by Stephen Colbert, Val Kilmer, Jessica Simpson, and Kanye West. Besides perhaps a few witty word puns and some shtick about a moving remote control pillow (hey, there's got to be one scene I laughed in, but I just can't recall), THE LOVE GURU is quite an unfunny disaster, but I don't want to bring down Myers' spirit. Mike Myers, you're still funny, just stop making these movies.
Rating: * out of 5.