THE LOVE GURU (D: Marco Schnabel, 88 min) Rating: NN
The Love Guru is Mike Myers’s far from triumphant return to live action after a five-year hiatus voicing Shrek. In this lampooning of Eastern spirituality as Western fad, he plays the Guru Pitka, a bargain-basement Deepak Chopra with a dream to appear on Oprah.
The outlandish plot is barely worth summarizing. For the most part, it involves Pitka playing marriage counsellor to an African-American hockey star (in itself is one of the movie’s best jokes) while trying to get “randy” with his boss, the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs (the pouty-lipped Jessica Alba).
The movie boasts the same brand of humour as the Austin Powers series, including names that sound like come-ons and the casting of Verne “Mini-Me” Troyer (who’s becoming the staple midget in bad comedy).
But Myers can’t get the same mileage out of his Pitka shtick most of these hallmarks lack the punch or pizzazz of the former series. Among the minor successes are the riotous Bollywood-style dance sequences, with Myers and Alba ducking behind trees. But these are short-lived after a long barrage of big-to mammoth-sized dick jokes.
And, as the Guru should know, size is no substitute for technique.
