Movie Info:
Writer: Mike Myers, Graham Gordy
Director: Marco Schnabel
Cast: Mike Myers, Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, Romany Malco, Meagan Good, Verne Troyer, Ben Kingsley, Omid Djalili, Telma Hopkins, John Oliver, Jessica Simpson, Kanye West, Deepak Chopra
Rating: PG-13
Studio: Paramount Home Video

Release Info:
DVD Release Date: September 16, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon for $23.99

I had mixed feelings about watching this movie. Sure, the hype was high. This is the first movie that Mike Myers has shown his face in since the late 90s. He’s done a lot of voice work, but nothing onscreen. So, like many others I was interested in seeing this. The Love Guru looks funny and maybe it is, in theory, but it certainly isn’t as funny as you might expect it to be. There are funny moments, but they aren’t consistent.

I think part of the problem with The Love Guru is that this is what you would expect from Myers. He’s not stretching his skills or sowing his comedic oats. He’s doing the same exact thing that we know he is capable of because he’s been doing it since his days on Saturday Night Live. Myers would have had more success doing another Austin Powers film. People know and love that character and Pitka, the Love Guru may dress funny, but that’s more or less as far as it goes. Well that and Justin Timberlake’s entire getup is worth a laugh or two.

I can’t say what I was expecting because I don’t know. I expected to laugh and I did a couple of times. Myers is a comedic genius, but I couldn’t get over the feeling that he felt like it was time to be back onscreen. Unfortunately, he tossed something mindless together, put in some well known stars (many of which have been in his past films), and the entire project feels like a glitzy, yet still half-assed film.

I tried to like this, but in the end it’s just mediocre. I didn’t die watching it nor did I want to commit suicide. I did look at my watch a few times though and I didn’t entirely enjoy myself. Let’s put it this way, I watched it and my life hasn’t changed for better or worse because of that fact. If it were on television I would change the channel. Been there, done that, and now it’s just time to move on.

The The Love Guru – Two Disc Special Edition Plot
It isn’t easy being the second most popular guru in the world, but that is what Guru Pitka (Mike Myers) is. He is second behind Deepak Chopra and he knows exactly why he is lagging behind him. It’s because Chopra has been on Oprah, of course! Pitka knows that if he can get on Oprah then he could become the number one guru in the world. Now he just has to find a way to get on her show.

Dick Pants (John Oliver), Pitka’s agent is certain that there needs to be some high profile guru demonstrations going on before Pitka can get on Oprah, which leads to Pitka’s work with some hockey players. The Toronto Maple Leaf’s star, Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco) has just been deserted by his wife (Meagan Good). Turns out she left Darren for the rival team’s goalie, Jacques “Le Coq” Grande (Justin Timberlake). This puts Darren into a losing streak and if that wasn’t bad enough, it gives him the shakes, too.

The owner of the hockey team, Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba) is familiar with Pitka and wants him to get the couple back together, so that Darren can get back to business. The only problem is that the coach, Punch Cherkov (Verne Troyer) doesn’t like the guru and he loves to make sure that Pitka knows that. It’s up to Pitka to get the couple back together and save the team, but the question is can he do it?

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
One thing that doesn’t need to be complained about is the visual or audio quality for The Love Guru – Two Disc Special Edition. Everything in this area seems to look and sound just fine. The aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and the anamorphic widescreen offer a phenomenal picture. The colors are bright, the movie is crisp, and the resolution rarely falters. It’s a positive experience attached to a mediocre movie.

The same can be said about the audio presentation. You can choose from Dolby Digital 5.1 in English, French, and Spanish. Closed Captioning is available with the English track. The sound is consistent and sounds good throughout. In addition to the various audio tracks, subtitles are also included in English, French, and Spanish for those that need them.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
There is a number of bonus features available on this two disc set of The Love Guru. One of the main features is a digital copy of the film. “Mike Myers and the Love Guru” is a basic making of type of featurette that runs for just under ten minutes. This is followed up by “One Helluva Elephant,” which looks at the production process of the prosthetic elephant. “Hockey Training for the Actors,” shows a few minutes of the actors learning to play hockey.

Beyond the featurettes and the digital copy there are around 13 minutes of deleted scenes, a few minutes worth of bloopers, about ten minutes worth of outtakes, a theatrical trailer, and some commentary with Stephen Colbert and Jim Gaffigan. Overall, this is a fair set of special features that you would expect from a newer movie. That being said nothing here is overly impressive unless you’re a big fan of this movie.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
If you have to see this I highly recommend renting it first. I am sure some diehard Myers fans will want to own this, but more often than not I think renting this will be sufficient. This wasn’t the worst movie I have ever seen, but it did reaffirm my reasoning behind why I am so selective about comedies.

Overall Rating:

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