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THE RETURN OF MIKE MYERS
THE LOVE GURU (PG-13) Six years have
passed since Mike Myers acted in a comedy
he wrote (Austin Powers: Goldmember came
out in 2002). That absence, compounded by
overexposure to the green ogre and The Cat in
the Hat fiasco, is all but deadly in the vola
tile comedy kingdom.
Regimes are overthrown
in a week; revolutions
are only a catchphrase
away. Presently, Judd
Apatow has conquered
the known comedic
world, in which Myers is
now just a lowly jester.
But as The Love Guru
reminds, the man who
gave the world Wayne
Campbell and Or. Evil
is still a hell of a funny
guy so long as you can
laugh at barn-broad
characters, smartly
sophomoric wordplay
and silly visual gaggery.
The Love Guru won't set the world ablaze
like Austin Powers did in 1997. Though born in
America, Guru Pitka (Myers) grew up in India
under the tutelage of a cross-eyed guru (Ben
Kingsley). Wishing to become the next Deepak
Chopra (a good friend of Myers), Pitka takes
his acronyms, bumper sticker advice and self-
help books to Canada to solve the romantic
woes of hockey star Darren Roanoke (Romany
Malco), whose wife, Prudence (Meagan Good),
has taken up with rival goalie Jacque "The
Coq" Grande (Justin Timberlake). In an unbe
lievable secondary plot, Pitka woos Toronto
Maple Leafs owner/hottie, Jane Bullard
(Jessica Alba).
Like any comedy written by Myers subse
quent to Wayne's World,
The Love Guru recycles
some of the comic's
favorite gags, and has its
share of threadbare jokes
worn away to less than
nothing. However, Pitka
is a funnier, more inter
esting, more talented
character than the popu
lar, one-note Powers.
The guru sings, dances
and plays sitar versions
of "9 to 5" and "Space
Cowboy." What Powers
did have that Pitka does
not is equally to more
entertaining support.
Timberlake's Jacque the Coq and Verne Troyeris
apoplectic coach are no Dr. Evil and Mini-Me.
As profoundly stupid as Myers' movies are, they
indulge the inner adolescent with the irony
of someone older and much smarter; after all,
Myers is the valedictorian of the stupid clown
college attended by Ferrell, Sandler and the
like. The Love Guru may not be his best work,
but it at least earns a passing mark.
Drew Wheeler
Mike Myers
-/re mmsmMM
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