Love and Comedy, I think not.

Rating: Null/10 (29 July 2008)

The Love Guru (2008) *1/2
I enjoy Mike Myers' work very much. He has been more or less consistently funny throughout his career. Wayne's World and the Austin Powers films are noteworthy comedy classics. He's mastered the fine line between clever stupidity and just outright stupidity - or so you would have thought by now.
The Love Guru is almost devoid of any cleverness. Jokes fall flat, and I sadly rarely laughed. Even sadder, I rarely even grinned. The Love Guru may well be a terrible film, but I didn't hate it by any stretch. I was just supremely disappointed. I had low expectations to begin with, so maybe that is why I didn't hate it.
Myers is the Guru Pitka, in a surprisingly unfunny turn. He's hired by Jane Bullard (Alba), the Toronto Maple Leafs owner, to recoup their star player, Darren Roanoake. His wife has run off with Jaques Le Grande (Timberlake), and he is distraught. Myers and Alba develop a baffling relationship, and he is on a quest to remove his chastity belt. That's about it for the plot.
The jokes are crude, vulgar, and simply not funny most of the time. It's a bad sign when you have your characters laugh more at their jokes than the audience. Chuckles are far and few in between, and mostly come from supporting players. Timberlake has some good moments. His reference to Quebec Pizza had me in stitches, even in the previews. I suspect any other Canadians found this rather amusing, not because the Pizza in Quebec actually comes on poptarts, but because anyone who's ever eaten pizza in Quebec knows that it may as well. Stephen Colbert has a few moments as a commentator as well.
Asides out of the way, the film tries to make some attempts at inside pokes and humor regarding the Leafs history (ie, the Ballard curse), but it spends most of its time making penis jokes, which literally come at least once every 5 minutes.
I'm sure there is an immature and I assume young audience of teenage boys that will get a big kick out of the onslaught of lowbrow. There is nothing wrong with mindless comedy when its consistently funny, but The Love Guru just isn't. And that, I must confess, is sad for Myers et al.