The Love Guru

Rating:

*

Verdict:

Mike Myers loses his mojo

It might star the same guy who gave us

Austin Powers, Wayne's World

and the voice of

Shrek

. But Mike Myers' latest,

The Love Guru

, is a crass slump in form.

Myers plays Guru Pitka, an American orphan raised by Guru Tugginmypudha (yes, there are plenty of silly names and acronyms) in an ashram in India, who moves back to Hollywood to preach his own unique self-help philosophy.

When Toronto pro ice hockey player Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco) suddenly loses form heading into the final rounds of the competition, the team's owner Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba) hires Guru Pitka to reunite the player with his estranged wife Prudence (Meagan Good), in the hope of restoring Roanoke's form.

The pressure is on Pitka to get Roanoke to complete the self-help process in time - from Bullard and team Coach Punch Cherkov (Verne Troyer - yes Mini Me is back too), but also his manager who can get him a spot on Oprah if he can pull this job off.

The possibility of becoming bigger than his nemesis Deepak Chopra (one of the many celebs who unfortunately agreed to appear as themselves) is Pitka's driving force, so he rushes his client through a ridiculous self-help process that includes rebirth and dealing with his mother, in order to keep everyone happy. While Myers might look the part of a guru with  his Indian attire, his performance is full of the same old tics. Not even his cheeky persona can make the non-stop toilet humour and humping elephants funny.

Alba takes it all a bit too seriously while Justin Timberlake gets points for turning up ready to make a fool of himself as Prudence's new love interest.  His rendition of a Celine Dion song is the most memorable thing in this tastelessly flat affair.

Francesca Rudkin

Cast:

Mike Myers, Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, Ben Kingsley, Verne Troyer

Director:

Marco Schnabel

Running Time:

86 mins

Rating:

M (offensive language and sexual references)

Screening:

SkyCity, Hoyts and Berkeley Cinemas