This film opened yesterday (June 20th), and was directed by Marco Schnabel. Mike Myers shares writing credit with Graham Gordy.
To be honest, I had pretty low expectations for this picture, considering Mike Myers recent projects. However, I was pleasantly surprised that this movie is actually pretty damn enjoyable!
Mike Myers plays an American child that grew up in India. At a young age, he studied with Deepak Chopra under another guru, played by Ben Kingsley (yeah, the dude that played Ghandi!). So, Mike Myers grows up to be a new-age self-help guru, who wants to be recognized just as much as Deepak Chopra. He gets hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs owner (played by Jessica 'I'm not Latina' Alba) to help cure the love problems of their star player Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco, Trini Massive!). The hockey star's girlfriend has been stolen by a great goalie nicknamed 'le Grande Coq' (an almost unrecognizable, Justin Timberlake). Unfortunately, the Leafs captain can't seem to focus on the game, and they are in the Stanley Cup finals. The Leafs in the finals? Only in Hollywood, kids. Only in Hollywood.
The humour plays lowbrow, but with a decided highbrow mentality. There are tons of fart jokes, balls jokes and even little people jokes. However, none of them are disrespectful. The gags are also dependent on clever word play, and silly puns. Somehow it all works out, with smart nods to Bollywood, Extreme's 'More Than Words' video, Maple Leafs history and Les Quebecois (I don't think anyone in the theatre I screened it in got the humour in JT screaming 'Tabernac!' whenever he was angry).
What I also found pleasing, was that the filmmakers didn't try to hide the fact that this was a story that mostly takes place in Toronto. It's the real Toronto Maple Leafs, playing at the Air Canada Centre with Tim Horton's and Sportchek ads along the rink boards.
Another reason to check this movie out are the incredible cameos. I don't want to give too many of them away, but clearly Mike Myers went through his rolodex and called in several favours. It's worth it.
Not the stink bomb that I was expecting, The Love Guru actually delivers some good laughs while waving the Canadian and Maple Leafs flags unashamedly.
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