Written by Mike Myers & Graham Gordy Directed by Marco Schnabel Running Time: 1:26 Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language, some comic violence and drug references. B-

The Love Guru was a rather dumb, sex joke-driven comedy that still had me laughing out loud.

The Guru Pitka is the second most popular spiritual helper in the world (with Deepak Chopra in the lead). The Guru is offered a chance to be on Oprah but in order to do so, he must go to Toronto and help fix the relationship between a hockey player and his wife. Knowing that an appearance on Oprah will shoot him to the top of the spiritual world, the Guru accepts. But his unorthodox ways are hard to understand. The hockey player (Romany Malco) thinks the Guru is crazy, the coach (Verne Troyer) knows the Guru is crazy and the team owner (Jessica Alba) is head over heels in love with the crazy Guru. But with the Stanley Cup coming to a nail biting finish, will the Guru be able to save the marriage and get on Oprah? Or will he crash and burn, like the Maple Leafs often do...

The Love Guru is not a smart comedy. It uses sex humor pretty much throughout the entire film. There are a lot of double entendres, plays on words and Justin Timberlake's character, a French-Canadian goalie is nicknamed 'Le Coq' - so you see where the movie is going. The thing is, Mike Myers always gets so fully into his characters that you can't help but admire his dedication. The Guru Pitka is an almost ridiculous character, but he is so full of life and happiness, he makes you laugh in spite of yourself. The plot in a movie like this is almost unnecessary. There are a couple of things happening - Guru Pitka trying to put the marriage back together (the hockey player's wife is having an affair with Le Coq) while at the same time, the Guru is falling for the team owner. But a long time ago, when he started on the road to Guruness, he took an oath (and put on a chastity belt) so having sex is out of the question.

The Guru is non-denominational, so as not to offend any one religious group (although in doing so, probably offends them all). There are a few scenes that take place in India which adds some humor to the film. Mike Myers and Jessica Alba have two Bollywood dance sequences which I thought were pretty funny. And let's face it, Jessica Alba in a sari is about as hot as you can get. His methods are strange and he relies a lot on trademarked phrases to get you through the day like "GURU - Gee, yoU aRe yoU" or "Intimacy: Into Me, I See" and finally, "You must go from 'Nowhere' to 'Now HERE!'" It's a complete send-up of these self-help shows that feel like having phrases you can repeat over and over will help you spiritually and mentally (Mariskahargitay).

Speaking of Mariska Hargitay, there are a bunch of cameos throughout the film including one from a pair of people you first saw together on a Hurricane Katrina tribute event. Stephen Colbert makes an appearance as a drug-addicted hockey announcer. And there are many others. Verne Troyer is the butt of a ton of jokes and during the closing credits has one of the funniest lines in the entire film. Jessica Alba looks hot, Justin Timberlake looks ridiculous (and sings a lot of Celine Dion) and the rest of the cast was fine in their supporting roles. But this movie is all about Mike Myers. We haven't seen him in a while and this is a nice vehicle for a comeback. It's strange to think that we almost never see Myers as himself. Every big movie he's done, he's been a character of some sort. Wayne Campbell, Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, The Cat in the Hat... it was only in So I Married an Axe Murderer that he played just a regular guy. In this movie he gets completely lost in the role and it makes for a fun ride, even if the mile-a-minute jokes are mostly grade school humor.

So overall, I liked The Love Guru. Yes, it's a movie made mainly for teen boys to giggle over, but it was a fun, lighthearted (and dirty) film that is harmless and offers up enough laughs to make it entertaining.

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