Feeling like a really rushed result of barely scotched taped half rehearsed jokes, The Love Guru is easily Mike Myers' worst outing of his career. Even a hardcore fan must cringe at this film, in how it doesn't even add up to the usual vintage Myers sense of tongue-in-cheek humor.
The Love Guru Storyline
It is NHL playoffs time, and the Toronto Maple Leafs have made it to the finals, looking to face the mighty Los Angeles Kings. However, not all is well within the Toronto hockey organization: their star player, Darren Roanoke (Weeds' Romany Malco) is truly off his game, due to the rumoured affair his wife (Meagan Good, Stomp the Yard, Roll Bounce) is having with the Kings' star goalie, Jacques "Le Coq" Grande (Justin Timberlake, in as Québécois pure laine a character as they come, humoristically speaking --- and yes, the play on words given his name is intentional...sigh).
In order to set things right before the damage to the Leafs' chances for the cup is irreversible, current manager Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba, looking pained to be in such a travesty of a film) calls upon the service of the celebrity Guru Pitka (Mike Myers, in exagerated facial hair and garb), prying him away for his mystical swanky Hollywood pseudo-ashram, where he caters to the A-List crowd. Her goal is to break the Leafs' curse of failing to win the cup, and lead her team to legendary victory.
Problems with The Love Guru
No matter what fictitious plot a comedic actor conjures up, it is impossibly hard to even accept that a professional hockey team would rely on one player to win its way to a cup. Hockey isn't tennis, it's a group sport, and so despite losing a top player, the premise is almost insulting to pro hockey players, and to its fans.
Speaking of insults, the entire premise pokes fun at the Indian culture, and yet doesn't feel at all funny. Rather, it often comes off as racist, demeaning and often rude. Unlike many R-rated comedies out on the market, this PG-13 product doesn't allude to commonly expected Eastern stereotypes. The star of the film (also its co-writer) doesn't pull any punches, and shamelessly comes up with lame character names (how can Gandhi Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley accept playing Guru Tugginmypudha???), and implying that all Indian people have part-time gigs outsourcing technical support services. The whole concept is simply absurd and unfunny. Oh, creative mind behind Wayne Campbell and Austin Danger Powers, where have you gone? The audience sighs with relief that Sprockets: The Movie was never produced, as it would surely have been worse than this abominable waste of 88 minutes.
(Note to Filmmakers: Repeating Mariska Hargitay 247 times throughout the movie is NOT funny)
Highlights in Love GuruThe only two aspects even remotely memorable to this unintentional farce, are Justin Timberlake as Jacques Grande, and TV Humorist Stephen Colbert as Jay Kell, a barely veiled take on colorful Canadian hockey commentator Don Cherry.
