Austin Powers with a dot on his forehead

Rating: Null/10 (3 July 2008)

When you watch this movie its as if you're watching Austin Powers dressed up as an Indian with an Indian voice spewing all the jokes that worked in the original Austin Powers movie. Its the exact same jokes with the exact same delivery but the timing is flat, old, awkward, and boring.
If you trace back Mike Myers' career you will find the same awkward timing in The Spy Who Shagged me - the sequel to the first Austin Powers movie - he used all the best jokes and gags from the first Austin Powers and beat them to death over and over in the 2nd one with little comedic value. I'm sure it was a great time for the crew, but 5 minutes of Fat Bastard belching and farting does not work in a 90 minute film, it works as a SNL sketch - maybe. The first Austin Powers movie had all the same gags but it had a flair, a style, and deft comedic timing. Every movie he's made since then has been a series of sketches devoid of any narrative thread.
In the very first line of dialog this movie is lost. Mike Myers talks directly to the camera - a risky device for any actor, but one Myers has pulled off before - he rings off a list of Indian spiritual philosophies then qualifies it by saying 'or some other crap like that'. In other words, he undercuts his character's belief in the entire world he's created for this movie. No joke ever works. And maybe they wouldn't have anyway but they would have at least had a chance! All the penis jokes, sexual double entendres and flat out gross out humor have worked in his movies and many other movies before and will work again but this seismic shift at the very beginning sends this movie careening into disaster.
I think Mike Myers has lost himself in a Hollywood black hole; surrounded by yes-people and sycophants, everything he does is funny to the small orbit of people he interacts with, but he never gets in front of an audience. I heard he tested this character in front of audiences but to what extent and what context I don't know. One-liners spouted by a funny sounding Indian guy might make drunk people laugh at a night club but not people paying 12 bucks at the theater.
After Austin Powers and the success of Wayne's World, Mike Myers became too powerful for his own good. He isn't the first to fall victim to success but he's still young enough to come out of it if he's smart. He should allow himself to actually be directed by somebody and give up some control. He cannot be objective about what he's putting up on the screen.
With all that talent, if he shoots another movie where he stomps around the set making everybody's life miserable and writes every line of dialog, chooses every shot and then sits in the editing room making the final cut - he's doomed. He'll be lucky if producers will allow him one more real budget to make a big flop again - audiences will remember Love Guru and they won't give him a big opening weekend unless he deserves it. Good luck Mike.