A case of the audience failing the movie

Rating: 9/10 (15 November 2008)

The low marks this movie is getting is a case of the audience failing the movie.
If you were not entertained by this, you might not be a red-neck, but you might be a sourpuss. Or perhaps just be unexposed to the off-America world Myers is referencing and spoofing.
Or maybe it helps to be Canadian, if only to have a taste for humane humour.
In any case, I think it is quite brilliant, laugh-a-minute fun and silliness. I admit Jessica Alba's acting is a bit wooden, but who cares. And the mop fight scene actually was pretty disgusting.
But Mike Myers has created a delightful character here. It is a great parody of the new-age/guru industry, without being actually denigrating. The humour is at times of the so-bad-it's-good genre, with the delivery lifting it from plain groaner to irrepressible guffaw. It's a run of gags and puns and double entendres all the way, and part of the fun is seeing how high he can stack them.
The production values are first-rate; it's lovely to watch. The Bollywood parodies make for multicultural novelty, and are a total romp.
There's plenty of star wattage. Justin Timberlake is perfect as the Quebecois blowhard goalie. And Ben Kingsley as the cross-eyed Guru Tugginmypudha  come on, give yourself a break. That's funny!
I've seen dreck, and this ain't it.