The Love GuruFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Love Guru is a 2008 American comedy film, directed by Marco Schnabel and starring Mike Myers and Jessica Alba along with Romany Malco and Justin Timberlake. In addition to starring in the film, Myers wrote The Love Guru with Graham Gordy which was based on real life love guru Matt Etzel, and produced it with Gary Barber. The film was released by Paramount Pictures on June 20, 2008 and was rated PG-13. The film was released on August 1 in the United Kingdom, and has been rated 12A. It will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on September 16.
Plot:
Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco), the star player of the Toronto Maple Leafs, is suffering from stress because his wife, Prudence Roanoke (Meagan Good), has left him for Jacques "Le Coq" Grandé (Justin Timberlake). The stress causes his hand to shake, which affects his hockey performance. Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba) enlists the support of Guru Maurice Pitka (Mike Myers) to help Darren with his stress so that the team can hopefully break their losing streak. In addition to getting a considerable payment, Pitka would be invited to Oprah Winfrey's show, which he hopes would help him become the #1 guru, a place currently held by Deepak Chopra. Pitka succeeds, but feels no need anymore to become #1, more important is his love for Bullard. However, in connection with a vow Guru Tugginmypudha gave him a chastity belt. He returns to him to have it removed. Tugginmypudha agrees that it can be removed now, and explains how to do that; to Pitka's surprise no key is needed.
Cast:
* Mike Myers as Guru Maurice Pitka
* Jessica Alba as Jane Bullard
* Romany Malco as Darren Roanoke
* Meagan Good as Prudence Roanoke
* Verne Troyer as Coach Cherkov
* Justin Timberlake as Jacques "Le Coq" Grandé
* Telma Hopkins as Lillian Roanoke
* Manu Narayan as Rajneesh - Pitka's assistant
* John Oliver as Dick Pants
* Ben Kingsley as Guru Tugginmypudha
* Stephen Colbert as Jay Kell
* Jim Gaffigan as Trent Lueders
* Rob Huebel as Bar Patron/Cameo
* Omid Djalili as Guru Satchabigknoba/ Gagandeep Singh
Music:
The original score for the film was composed by George S. Clinton, who recorded it with an 80-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at Warner Bros.
The song "Dhadak Dhadak" from the 2005 Bollywood film Bunty Aur Babli was used in the trailer.
The songs "9 to 5", "More Than Words", and "The Joker" are all in the movie (performed by Mike Myers, and with sitar accompaniment) and on the soundtrack. "Brimful of Asha" was also used in the film.
Box office performance:
In its opening weekend, The Love Guru grossed $13.9 million in 3,012 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #4 at the box office. The opening week numbers fell short of the $20 million range forecast by Hollywood pundits. To date, the film has grossed $32,190,314 in the United States and Canada.
Critical reception:
The Love Guru was panned by most critics. As of August 5, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 14% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 125 reviews—with the consensus that the film "features far too many gross-out gags, and too few earned laughs, ranking as one of Mike Myers' poorest outings." Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 24 out of 100, based on 33 reviews.
Jay Stone of the National Post gave the film one star and said the film "is shockingly crass, sloppy, repetitive and thin." Stone said "Chopra is used almost as a product placement, taking a proud spot alongside a circus, a brand of cinnamon buns, the Leafs and, of course, Mike Myers." Stone also wrote, "the sitar-based versions of pop songs like 9 to 5 are oddly watchable - but mostly the film is 88 minutes of ridiculous sight gags and obscene puns."
A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote "The word 'unfunny' surely applies to Mr. Myers’s obnoxious attempts to find mirth in physical and cultural differences but does not quite capture the strenuous unpleasantness of his performance. No, The Love Guru is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again."
Harry Knowles of Aintitcoolnews.com was utterly disgusted with the film, considering it one of the worst films of at least the past several years, and going so far as to declare it a career-killing movie for Myers.
The Globe and Mail gave the movie a 1-star review, saying the only funny part was the line "the Toronto Maple Leafs have won the Stanley Cup!", due to the recent lack of skills displayed by the team. One reviewer felt that the only actor that "really scores in the film is Stephen Colbert," who plays a drug- and sex-addicted hockey broadcaster, lauding his performance as "absolutely hysterical."
Portrayal of Hinduism:
Before the film's release, some Hindus expressed unhappiness about how Hindus are portrayed, the disrespect of their culture and the bad impression that it would make for those not well exposed to Hinduism, while some gave a cautious welcome, asking other Hindus to look at it as satire and not the truth. Rajan Zed, a Hindu leader from Nevada, demanded that Paramount Pictures screen the film for members of the Hindu community before it was released in June. Based on the movie's trailer and MySpace page, Zed says The Love Guru "appears to be lampooning Hinduism and Hindus" and uses sacred terms frivolously. Zed told The Associated Press, "People are not very well-versed in Hinduism, so this might be their only exposure...They will have an image in their minds of stereotypes. They will think most of us are like that."
The Hindu American Foundation was granted a pre-screening of the film prior to its release. HAF agreed to view the film to be able to inform the Hindu American community in light of concerned enquiries that have been pouring into its national headquarters. The reviewers conclude that the film is vulgar and crude but not necessarily anti-Hindu.
In addition to Hindu groups protesting the film, advocates for the mentally challenged have also objected to the liberal use of the slur "retard" in the film.
The Love Guru (Single-Disc Edition)From Paramount
Average customer review:
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #175 in DVD
- Released on: 2008-09-16
- Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
- Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Number of discs: 1
- Running time: 86 minutes
Amazon.com
A hilarious comedy starring Mike Myers as guru Pitka in his first original character since the blockbuster hit Austin Powers. Myers plays an American raised in India by gurus (Tugginmypudha & Satchabigknoba) and returns to the U.S. in order to break into the self-help business. His unorthodox methods are put to the test when he must settle the romantic troubles and subsequent professional skid of a star hockey player (Romany Malco), whose wife left him for a rival athlete Jacques Grande (Justin Timberlake). Mini Me is back from Austin Powers and plays the hockey coach for more classic comedic moments that will have audiences laughing from opening to closing credits.
Amazon.com
Mike Myers, creator of Wayne's World and Austin Powers, adds another character to his arsenal of comic personae. With his thick beard, curly mustachios, and easy-to-remember aphorisms, Guru Pitka (Myers) has built a reputation as love advisor par excellence--but he's still just America's #2 guru, after Deepak Chopra. Finally an opportunity comes his way: If he can heal the rift between a star hockey player (Romany Marco, Weeds) and his wife (Meagan Good, Stomp the Yard), he can appear on Oprah. But when he meets the hockey team's comely owner (Jessica Alba), Pitka realizes he must solve his own love problems as well. Myers can't resist a good bodily functions joke--unfortunately, he can't resist a bad one either, so The Love Guru is crammed top to bottom with jokes about urine, feces, sex, genitalia--lots and lots about male genitalia--along with many, many gags about Canada, drugs, elephants, inspirational catchphrases, and little people (Vern "Mini-Me" Troyer takes the brunt of these). But the Austin Powers movies were pretty much the same sort of lowbrow comedy grab-bag; though the ratio of good to bad might be weaker here, a good handful of bits offer solid laughs, including some mock-Bollywood musical numbers. Also featuring pop star Justin Timberlake (as a preposterously well-endowed French-Canadian), Ben Kingsley (as Pitka's cross-eyed mentor), Stephen Colbert (as a drug-addled sports announcer), as well as numerous celebrity cameos. --Bret Fetzer
Customer Reviews
A Strange Kind of Love
Mike Myers has made some strange movies, and this one follows suit. His demeanor of importance, his colorful costumes, sparkling eyes and long hair with beard make him appear as another Charles Manson. The premise of the whole movie is about a man's anatomy. He came from India to California to work his magic on a hockey player. The faux India was well done.
The whole movie used euphemisms of mascalinity, using words and phrases only weird men recognize and sends them into orgies of wicked laughter.
A Delightful Trip
To properly appreciate this mostly very lovely film you must be willing to suspend judgement and go along for the ride. It's often stupidly funny but with a certain sweetness that captured my attention. Music also plays an important part in the film and Mike Myers has a very pleasant voice. I definitely recommend going along for the ride.
Liquor up front ... Poker in back ...... oh my god, I just got that!
I went to see the apparently vulgar film with a friend of mine. It was definitely humorous, personally I found laughing at a group of fools to be oddly refreshing and it was all very tongue in cheek and the two elephants making 'happy' - well, it was all in the worst possible taste wasn't it, you can say that for most of the film - yet Mr Myers does it all with self mocking style which makes the whole film acceptable. Even though there are lots of naughty jokes and double innuendo there is a warmth to Mike Myers world which has a dignity; of a sort, however as much as I laughed at the obscene jokes - for their inappropriateness; I doubt I'll watch it again ... well, maybe only to watch the opening song 9 - 2 - 5 ... it was fun, but I can't rave about the whole film..............
Mike Myers is a lovely comic and his films are fun and silly. I still miss Wayne, Austin Powers and Dr.Evil though, perhaps Wayne most of all........
The Love Guru (Single-Disc Edition)
