Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

I'd thought that after the awful, almost surreal live action take on The Cat in the Hat that Mike Myers couldn't possibly make a worse film -- I was mistaken. To describe The Love Guru as puerile would be an insult to children, whom, by the way, most parents wouldn't want to let near this crude and terribly unfunny "comedy."

This time out, Myers plays Guru Pitka, a US born, Indian-raised man who has become the second most popular relationship guru in the world -- second only to Deepak Chopra (who makes a cameo as himself in the film).  In order to overtake his rival by getting on the Oprah show, Pitka decides to help the owner of Toronto Maple Leafs, Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba), by getting Leafs star Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco) and his wife Prudence (Meagen Good) back together. See, Prudence has taken up with rival hockey player, the notoriously "well-hung" Jacques "Le Coq" Grandé, played by Justin Timberlake putting on a terrible French Canadian accent. You can work out for yourself why he's nicknamed "Le Coq".

The entire film is made up of nothing more than adolescent gags, sexual innuendos and double entendres that fall flat. It's nothing that will be unfamiliar to anyone who has seen the Austin Powers films, but the Austin Powers films worked for that character in a way that Love Guru doesn't. Love Guru is purposely rude just for the sake of it, and also casually condescending towards Hinduism. How any of the actors actually got roped into having their names attached to this project is a mystery. At one point in the film, Ben Kingsley, playing Guru Tugginmypudha (say that name slowly a few times and you just might get it -- wink, wink, nudge, nudge) has his students fight each other with mops soaked in his urine. If that's your idea of funny, then by all means, give Love Guru a viewing otherwise there is no reason to endure this insult to viewers' intelligence.

I thought I'd hit rock bottom in comedies when I had to review Dude, Where's My Car not too long ago, but I should have known there was worse. It's always a bad sign when a movie has to be filled out with cameo appearances by A and B-list celebrities playing themselves just to try and get a laugh, and The Love Guru is no exception. No less than Val Kilmer, Jessica Simpson and Mariska Hargitay (whose name is used as a running gag straight through the film) make appearances in this one, and even that can't save it. I wish someone could have saved me from the time wasted on watching this movie.

The Picture

The Love Guru is a lavishly colored film. Framed at 2.35:1, it appears on this Blu-ray Disc release in a splendid AVC/MPEG-4 encoding that captures its pseudo-Indian palette with great detail and lushly glowing saturated colors that pop from the screen.  Averaging 30Mbps, the disc's transfer displays no compression artifacts and has a good amount of shadow detail. Contrast is a little hot in places, just at the edge of washing out detail, but that is, perhaps, the filmmaker's intention. Because of the odd color palette and saturation choices, flesh tones look a bit odd, though skin texture is very detailed.  This transfer is yet more proof that even the worst of films can look very good on Blu-ray.

The Sound

The Love Guru comes with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless and French and Spansih Dolby Digital 5.1 audio options. The TrueHD mix is relatively reserved with most of the action taking place across the front three channels, which is not unusual for a comedy. There are occasionally some scene breaks where special effects are jarringly placed into the surrounds, such as during the faux Maple Leafs televised coverage scenes, but mainly the surrounds are populated with subdued ambient effects. The LFE is sparingly used and comes into play mostly during the brief "Bollywood" musical segments. Otherwise, the sound resides mainly in the midrange where dialogue is clear, intelligible and well balanced.


The Extras

There are several extras on here that don't add much to the overall experience of the film, but are surprisingly funnier than the film itself, which isn't that difficult to do. Highlights that viewers will want to check out are the Bloopers and Back in the Booth with Trent and Jay for the most amusement.

The extras available on this release are:

• Mike Myers and The Love Guru -- An Inside Look (1.78:1/high definition/MPEG-2) -- This behind-the-scenes making of featurette plays more like a promotional spot as the director and stars are spoken to through a series of interview segments in which they all lavish praise on one another and particularly Mike Myers.
• One Helluva Elephant (1.78:1/high definition/MPEG-2) -- Members of the special effects team offer a look at the mechanical elephant used for close ups in the film.
• Deleted and Extended Scenes (2.35:1/high definition/MPEG-2) -- Eleven extended and deleted scenes that do not add much to the story or its pacing, but, rather, are more gags that were better off being left out of the final cut.
• Bloopers (2.35:1/high definition/MPEG-2) -- A little under four minutes of bloopers from The Love Guru that turn out to be more amusing to watch than the film itself.
• Back in the Booth with Trent and Jay (2.35:1/high definition/MPEG-2) -- Extended outtakes of the film's farcical Toronto Maple Leafs sports announcers.
• Outtakes and More (2.35:1/high definition/MPEG-2) -- More extended scenes and outtakes from The Love Guru.
• Theatrical Trailer (2.35:1/high definition/MPEG-2/Dolby Digital 5.1) - The original theatrical trailer.                                                                                              
  
• Bonus Disc with Digital copy for playback on Mac/PC and/or Play-for-Sure compatible or video enabled iPod portable devices

Where to Buy

• The Love Guru on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Final Thoughts

Mike Myers is hardly subtle; his brand of comedy is outrageous, in your face, and brash. Sometimes, when things click, such as in Austin Powers, it can be quite amusing, but in the case of The Love Guru it comes across as gross and desperate for a laugh. Ironically, this Blu-ray release is of a very high quality, but I can't recommend this as anything more that a rental to anyone.

Product Details

• Actors: Jessica Alba, Mike Myers, Justin Timberlake, Romany Malco, Meagan Good
• Director: Marco Schnabel
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Region: A
• Number of discs: 2
• Rating: PG-13
• Studio: Paramount
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: September 16, 2008
• Run Time: 86 minutes
• List Price: $39.99
• Extras:
  • Mike Myers and The Love Guru -- An Inside Look HD
  • One Helluva Elephant HD
  • Hockey Training for Actors HD
  • Deleted and Extended Scenes HD
  • Back in the Booth with Trent and Jay HD
  • Outtakes and More HD
  • Theatrical Trailer HD