THE LOVE GURU
RYAN: Welcome back to live-action movies, Mike Myers! Though I may not be as ready for your comeback as I had thought.
CAROLINE: In all honesty, I was fully prepared to detest this film; but I have to admit that I didn’t. It actually made me laugh several times, while still being little more than an extended Saturday Night Live sketch.
RYAN: I had the lowest of expectations going into this movie, and it’s not a complete waste of time. But I only laughed once; it’s just not a great movie.
CAROLINE: Given that I was expecting to laugh zero times, I suppose I was pleasantly surprised. I was laughing in spite of myself. I think Mike Myers has always done a great job with his characters, and this one is very funny at times. But there are also moments of such ridiculous juvenility that I was cringing. No more poop and penis jokes, please.
RYAN: All he knows how to do is tell a joke and then raise an eyebrow, and after three Austin Powers films with the same shtick, I’m just bored with it.
CAROLINE: Jessica Alba was even more atrocious than I thought she’d be. How on earth does this girl have an acting career?
RYAN: She’s only famous because she’s beautiful. She is unequivocally the worst actress in Hollywood.
CAROLINE: [laughs’ Normally, I would try to defend someone from that title, but in this case I don’t think I can. She is so beyond unnatural that she seems virtually incapable of making any dialogue sound remotely realistic.
RYAN: At least her hair wasn’t as bad as it was in “The Fantastic Four.” And Justin Timberlake surprised me by not being that great; he’s been much better in previous films, such as “Black Snake Moan.” He can’t pull off this kind of comedy. He’s been funny on SNL in the past, but I don’t think he can do this over-the-top stuff. He was attempting big comedy in the vein of Will Ferrell, Ben Stiller and Steve Carell, and it just wasn’t working. He’s not that kind of comedian.
CAROLINE: He’s not any kind of comedian, though I agree that he had good comic timing on SNL. I’m not sure what happened with him in this movie because he’s just kind of flat and not that funny.
RYAN: His French accent is so ridonkulously bad. But boy is he in shape!
CAROLINE: There are some funny cameos but not nearly as good as the ones in “Get Smart” or even “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,” sadly.
RYAN: Can we discuss Verne Troyer? Every single joke involving him was about his size. How unoriginal and stupid is that?
CAROLINE: The humor in this movie is definitely lowest common denominator. They always go for the easy joke. And the plot is pretty thin; they were clearly just looking for a way to make a 90-minute movie out of a funny 5-minute sketch. Still, I have to admit that I was actually amused at times.
RYAN: There are three fun musical numbers that – surprise! – I totally loved.
CAROLINE: Though I felt like the final one was a total rip-off of the end of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”
RYAN: Yeah, but they had already sung twice before in the movie, so it wasn’t completely out of the blue. But this just in – nothing was very original here. Bottom line?
CAROLINE: This is a tough one for me; I’m trying to think of what I would say to someone who asked me if I liked it and if they should see it. It’s such a broad comedy, and there are definitely people who like that sort of thing. But I personally much preferred “Get Smart.” If you like dumb, puerile humor, then “The Love Guru” is right up your alley.
RYAN: There are two comedies opening this weekend and quite simply, the one to see is “Get Smart,” which also has great action. For the kids who haven’t seen any Austin Powers films, “The Love Guru” might be fun; but for those of us who know better, while it’s not a total loss, it’s hardly a winner either.