*May contain spoilers*Where is the love?

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2009)

For the life of me I don't understand how reviewers have given Zohan and Get Smart better overall average star ratings than this movie. Of the three this flick has the most laughs. Of course the topic of this movie : new-age pseudo middle eastern self help spirituality is a big pill to swallow. I believe that this movie suffered bad reviews for several reasons that actually had nothing to do with whether it was well done or not.
In explanation of this I will offer several thoughts. 1)The main character is a white guy with obvious ethnic / cultural trappings.This I believe made it harder for audiences to relate to. We need to have lead characters clearly defined in their nationality and other aspects of their character. Guru Pitka admittedly was a bit ambiguous.Was he supposed to be East Indian? This ethnic group not nearly as "cool"as being black or Hispanic,was not warmly embraced by north American audiences to be sure. As one friend asked me , "Is he supposed to be East Indian?" Ah no he is not.So for the majority of the public the character went right over their heads. This I believed is the source of the controversy that was stirred up when it was released. Is this a parody of East Indian culture? No it is not. On to my next point. 2)This movie due to its subject matter,a parody of pseudo psychology/mysticism that was so the rage in the early 90s. Unfortunately those who were into this pop phenomenon took it all to seriously.This is the problem , those who would "get" most of the jokes would not go to see this movie. With their politically correct spiritually righteous mentality,this movie might come across as an affront to their belief systems.
I was into some of the new age stuff in the day but never took it so serious as to let it erode my sense of humor. But in some ways unless you were into this scene a lot of the humor comes across as an bunch of "inside jokes" only some might get. You couldn't swing a dead cat in say 1995 without hitting some up and coming self help guru hawking their latest book. This is where the humor truly lies in this movie. The Love Guru stands up not only as a great parody of time past but also as a social satire with its roots in the last decade.
Of course it is a very typical Mike Myers as it has its fair share of goofy slapstick gags and crude humor. Their are some fantastic one liners that actually noticed only on subsequent viewings. I found Myers played the character with warmth and genuine love for the material. This often put over a lot of the more lame jokes as there certainly are more than a few. But hey isn't that what a Mike myers movie is supposed to be ? Jokes so inanely silly that that is what makes them roar out loud funny.Come on now Austin Powers,Shrek and Waynes World were the same style. Yet amazingly enough so many reviewers state that is what ruined this movie.Personally I love a comedy that uses the a joke so bad its funny approach,truly this being for me the charm of Mike Myers past efforts.
I am not sure what people expected. I personally wish it would have done better in the box office as I would love to see sequels. Hey maybe Guru Pitka can "co-star" with Austin Powers(you know help him get his mojo back)as the character is one of the finest Myers has created.I believe the character should get more mileage. But I think the nuances of Guru Pitka went over the average movie goers heads. This is sad as it doesn't reflect on the quality of the movie but more so on how far the average movie goers sense of humor has slipped.
I am thinking that had this movie been released ten years ago in 1998 it would have been a huge hit and critically praised. This movie's only crime being it is a bit behind the times topically speaking. I truly believe in the future this movie will be lauded as a unrecognized classic. Hey Deepak loved the movie and thought it was very entertaining.As for the majority of bad reviewers who stated this movie was nothing more than a string of penis jokes,I have to wonder if they even watched the same movie.Yes, granted there is the fair share of crude humor ,what comedy doesn't go that route these days. Like Jackass is high concept.
Justinb Timberlake as a french Canadian hockey player in love with Celine Dion was bust a gut hilarious. I think he should give up singing and concentrate on being a comedic actor,he was that good. Myers pulls out every type of joke from "potty humor" to the Vaudvillian style "take my wife please" variety. All in all this movie is near perfect goofy comedy and absolutely does not deserve the almost universal beat down it has received. I have bought this movie and probably seen it now 10 times and will probably enjoy 10 more.