Not many movies could actively be described as ‘career killers’. Hollywood stars have a tendency to bounce back from even their lowest moments. J.Lo survived Gigli, Will Smith rose from the ashes of Wild Wild West and Nicholas Cage has made navigating bad movies into an art form in itself. But with his disastrous 2008 vanity project The Love Guru, Mike Myers’ career as an on-camera leading man came to a shuddering halt.
Yes, there was another Shrek sequel to follow, and he’s made a few cameos in the intervening years (most notably in Inglorious Basterds and Bohemian Rhapsody, but to this day he has never played the lead in another live action movie – quite the comedown for one of the most bankable stars of the 90s and 00s.
Is The Love Guru really as bad as its reputation suggests? Frankly, it might be even worse. Myers schtick was already looking fairly lazy after three Austin Powers and the profitable but reviled Cat In The Hat movie, but on The Love Guru he seems to be coming from a position of utter contempt for his audience.
As the Guru Pitka, Myers essentially trades his flamboyant British accent from Austin Powers for a listless purr, and repeats many of the same jokes from that franchise more or less verbatim. The late Verne Troyer is brought back for another round of lazy midget jokes and not much else, while Oscar winner Ben Kingsley has a truly mortifying supporting role as a cross-eyed mystic named Guru Tugginmypudha. Oh, and Justin Timberlake shows up as a monstrously endowed Canadian hockey player named Jacques LeCoq. That’s about the level we’re working with here.
On this week’s podcast, we grit our teeth and get into some of the more memorable moment – we wouldn’t call them highlights. Tune in for our thoughts on long-walk penis gags, genuinely horrifying CGI, an unfortunate amount of Deepak Chopra, a lucky escape for Celine Dion and more. We also pitch some much-needed drinking games, check in with our listeners for their opinions and attempt to come up with some sequel ideas that absolutely nobody is crying out for.
If you enjoy the show – or if you just want to cut us some slack after enduring this nightmare – hit subscribe to receive a brand new episode every Monday morning. You can also leave us a review on your podcasting app of choice, and sign up to our Patreon page to access a range of incentives including a regular bonus show, a promo slot on our main feed, opportunities to choose future episode subjects and more, all for as little as $2 per month.
Next week, we’re doing a total gear-shift, from one of the worst movies ever made to one of the very best. And they both feature white people in turbans! Until then, happy listening and remember… celebrity cameos are a great way to instantly date your movie.