by Scott Mantz

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“Mike Myers Feels the ‘Love’”

“The Love Guru”
Starring: Mike Myers, Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake
Directed by Marco Schnabel

Mike Myers may be notoriously picky when it comes to choosing his big screen roles, but at least he knows how to pick ‘em. With the exception of 2003’s disappointing “The Cat in the Hat,” the former “Saturday Night Live” player has toplined just 2 other major film properties since 1997: “Austin Powers” and “Shrek,” both of which turned into top grossing franchises.

But after beating those characters into the ground with sequels that suffered in quality, Myers has gone back to the drawing board with his first original creation in 11 years. Turns out that swapping his mojo for karma was a good thing, since “The Love Guru” is a refreshing, irresistible, silly and often hilarious comedy that fits the bill as the funniest movie of the year (at least, so far).

Myers plays Guru Pitka, a spiritual advisor who gets as much pleasure out of telling dirty jokes as he does with helping his disciples attain contentment and enlightenment. But when Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba), the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team, needs his help with getting her star player (Romany Malco) back on track to face off against a rival goalie (Justin Timberlake), Pitka embarks on a personal quest that will challenge everything he knew about peace, love, happiness…and Mariska Hargitay.

Despite the bad vibes given off by its lame trailer, “The Love Guru” is a lot funnier than it looks. Or rather, it works in spite of itself, since the zingers go by at such a fast pace that you might find yourself laughing over new jokes while you’re still absorbing the old ones. Of course, not all of them work (especially in the film’s padded second half), but most of them do, and with a running time of less than 90 minutes, “The Love Guru” doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Only Myers, who co-wrote the screenplay with Graham Gordy, could get away with making his favorite hockey team part of the story, and he seems refreshed by the chance to play such a childlike new character. Jessica Alba, Romany Malco, Verne Troyer and an over-the-top Justin Timberlake also seem to be having fun with their supporting roles, but Ben Kingsley, who won an Oscar for playing Gandhi, is downright hysterical as Pitka’s cross-eyed spiritual mentor.

“The Love Guru” features a couple of upbeat musical numbers, a wild climax with two rather promiscuous elephants and some good-sported cameos from the likes of Jessica Simpson, Val Kilmer, Kanye West and, yes, Mariska Hargitay. I’m not really sure if I’m dying to see “The Love Guru” turn into another franchise for Mike Myers, but given his track record for creating new characters, I can’t wait to see what he does next. After all, he sure knows how to pick ‘em.

VERDICT: SEE IT!

Copyright 2009 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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