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The Love Guru
Reviewed by Theo Michelfeld
Posted: June 22, 2008

If Mike Myers movies were IQ tests, we'd all be geniuses. More than Will Farrell, and more, indeed, than Adam Sandler, Myers seems to undertake his starring roles with a lot more faith in his own inherent funniness than hours logged at the laptop, crafting the perfect, understated, incisive Hollywood comedy. In fact, it seems his m.o. is simply to conjure up a character with an accent of some kind, then surround himself with gallons of fake bodily emissions, and roll the cameras. So why are his movies so funny? Well, some would say they're not. But to those of us who enjoy Myers' antics, the question may linger. Willfully stupid jokes, and bathroom humor? How does he get away with it?

Well, it's all in the irony, folks. Much like David Letterman, Myers has a gift for mugging his way through material he knows isn't funny. The joke isn't in the elephant poop or the inappropriate behavior or the carefully positioned cantaloupes. It's in the daredevil quality with which Myers insists his own sheepish grin can apologize for it all. He's not pandering to our inner child, but to our inner idiot—the one for whom actual wit is just too much fuss.

His new film is The Love Guru, in which he plays a Deepak Chopra-esque celebrity guru equipped with naughty acronyms, and self-help books with titles like "Stop Hitting Yourself. Stop Hitting Yourself. Why Are You Still Hitting Yourself?" The character is called The Guru Pitka, and truthfully he's a lot like Austin Powers—cheerful, childish, randy, and ludicrously competent. Pitka is an expert in matters of the heart, and is hired by a hockey owner (portrayed, with inconsequentially limited skill, by Jessica Alba) to cure her star player of lovesickness and help her team win the Stanley Cup. Naturally, she falls in love with Pitka, but the guru is saddled with a chastity belt, given to him by Ben Kingsley, to be removed only when he learns self-acceptance. Thus, to consummate with his new girlfriend, Pitka must first get over his crippling envy of Deepak Chopra.

The film's parade of sex jokes, potty jokes, Celine Dion jokes, and jokes at the expense of two-and-a-half foot tall actor Verne Troyer, is more-often-than-not successfully offset by Myers disarming presence as mastermind of it all. It's an impressive comedic feat. But if you're still not buying what Myers is selling, consider this: One of the funniest and most beautifully accurate lines in movie history comes from the film This is Spinal Tap. It goes, "There's such a fine line between stupid and clever." Quality comedies like Juno and Groundhog Day stay well clear of that line, and the world is better for it. Other quality comedies like The Three Amigos and There's Something About Mary get awfully close to the line, and again, kudos to them. But Mike Myers lives on that line, frolics there, and frequently, gleefully, stumbles over it. It's then entirely up to us whether to laugh or sneer at his behavior. But if you're too clever for The Guru Pitka and Austin Powers, do keep that Spinal Tap quote in mind. That fine line can trip you up in the other direction too. And these Mike Myers movies might be IQ tests after all.

Copyright © 2008 Theo Michelfeld