Mike Myers magical, mystic shtick entertains and enlightens in ‘The Love Guru’ – 4 stars ****

By W. H. Bourne

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 6/18/08 – When talking about “The Love Guru’, Mike Myers says, “What struck me as I began meeting gurus like Gary Zukav and Deepak Chopra is how actually really funny they are. I started to realize that the whole idea of enlightenment is really, at heart, to just lighten up.” Myers explains, “Steve Martin once said the most exciting thing to do is to find comedy where comedy hadn’t existed before. And I loved the idea of bringing irony and humor to the human search for happiness and love.”

A Hindu group has been contesting the film for being disrespectful. See related HT stories.

Myers began experimenting with his new character Guru Pitka during the filming of ‘Austin Powers’. On a spiritual quest after his father’s passing, Myers recalled that Deepak Chopra says, “Humor is humanity’s way of escaping deep suffering.” The infusion of self help spirituality with Myer’s hysterical new character Guru Pitka is a winning combination. Chopra says, “Mike was able to make some profound statements by stating them in a very silly way that, nonetheless, makes you remember them.”

In ‘The Love Guru’, Myers shines as the second best guru who’s chief goal is to beat out the real-life Deepak Chopra in order to be the number #1 guru in the world. Myers says, “Guru Pitka has some great ideas, but he’s strayed from helping people to just wanting the accolades. Now, as he is faced with his most resistant student ever (star hockey player Darren Roanoke), he himself is forced to live by the rules he wrote. In a sense, the teacher becomes the student. It’s really a journey from celebrity back to purity.”

Setting ‘The Love Guru’ in the NHL was a unique pairing that can only come from a mind like Myer’s. An ardent fan of the Toronto Maples Leafs, he longs for them to have a winning season. Myers says, “ It’s one of the great pains in my life that they haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967,” he confesses. “And to have the chance to shoot on the ice at the Air Canada Center, where every Saturday, without fail, I watch my boys playing, was a thrill.”

Pop star Justin Timberlake makes his comedic debut in ‘The Love Guru’ as L.A. Kings goalie Jacques “Le Coq” Grande. While Timberlake received rave reviews for his performance in ‘Alpha Dog’, he shows his acting versatility as the seductive Quebec hockey player. In talking about Timberlake, Myers says “I do have a man-crush on him. He’s like the most talented human being I’ve ever met in my life. And as the most well endowed player in the National Hockey League, he’s very funny. Justin instantly nailed the character. He also turns out to have a great goalie stance.”

‘Sin City’ hottie Jessica Alba plays Jane Bullard, the woman who has inherited (and cursed) the Toronto Maple Leafs. Myers says, “Jessica Alba is very beautiful, but she’s also a sweet, dedicated, talented and wonderful human being who has become one of my favorite co-stars I’ve ever worked with. And she’s really, really funny. She knocks her scenes right out of the park.”

Amazingly Alba holds her own in scenes with Myer’s flamboyant Guru Pitka. The chemistry between Alba’s Bullard and Myers’ Pitka is intriguing. Alba attributes the chemistry in part out of her love for Myers’ exuberant style of comedy. Alba says, “He has always reminded me of Peter Sellers, the way he can completely transform himself into these outrageous characters. Yet, they all have a heart and soul, so you’re always rooting for them. It’s a balance not many other comic actors can strike,” she observes. “He’s really tapped into this inner-child kind of playfulness that’s very inspiring. With this film he’s also tapped into something that’s going on right now, with so many people reading self-help books and trying to find new ways to change their lives.”

The perfect date film, ‘The Love Guru’ mixes and matches satiric riffs from several film genres including sports dramas and romantic comedies. Complete with a full scale, Bollywood-style dance sequence, Myers says, “I’m an old-school entertainer. I see it as a huge responsibility to ask people to sit in the dark for 90 minutes, so I always want to make sure there’s lots of entertainment – so there’s dance numbers, comedy, drama – and more – in ‘The Love Guru.’ It’s just what I love, entertaining people.” But Myers does more than entertain in ‘The Love Guru’; in all of his silliness, raunchiness and hysterical jokes, there is beauty, simplicity and truth in the message of Guru Pitka.

‘The Love Guru’

Running Time: 1 hr. 28 min.

Release Date: June 20th, 2008 (USA)

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language, some comic violence and drug references.

Distributor: Paramount