We are first introduced to the Love Guru Pitka as he is speaking through a voice over machine (set to Morgan Freeman mode).  Mr. Myers breaks the fourth wall and begins to tell us of the story of his most difficult student and unexpected teacher.

Darren Roanoke played by Romany Malco (40 Year Old Virgin) is the star hockey player of the Toronto Maple Leafs he is lead his team to the Stanley Cup.  The problem is his game has been affected since he’s broken up with his wife played by Meagan Good (Wasit Deep).  The team’s owner Jane Bullard played by Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four) hires the Guru Pitka to help
Roanoke reconcile with his wife.  If the Guru can get Roanoke back with his wife he’ll be guaranteed a spot on Oprah, which will fulfill his dream of besting his rival Deepak Chopra.

Mike Myers developed this character after his father died.  The Guru Pitka was one of five characters that Mr. Myers performed in his 1994 stage show, (incidentally Austin Powers was another character in that same show).  The character is loosely based on new age guru Deepak Chopra (who incidentally has a cameo).

A lot of critics have slammed this movie for various reasons but I would like to say that there are some laughs in this movie.  It may not be the finest movie Mr. Myers has done, but it does have a certain charm.

There’s sincerity in Mr. Myers performance that shines through, even through moments where the jokes fall flat.  It is that commitment to the character that gets him through this movie.  The occasional wink at the camera to let us in on the joke may have annoyed a few critics but I found it to be very Bugs Bunnyish.

First time director Marco Schnabel did a respectable job; I especially liked the dance sequence that were parodied Bollywood films.  The performance of Justin Timberlake as Roanoke’s rival Jacques Grandewas quite a surprise.  Timberlake was able to have fun with the role, imagine a cross between Pepe LePew and a Celine Dion superfan.  Also it would me remiss of me to not mention Verne Troyer as the Maple Leafs head coach.

After reading a few reviews of this movie I went into it with low expectations.  Maybe that was a good thing because I ended up enjoying it in the end.  I would like to think that The Love Guru is about a man that teaches people to love themselves but has a tough time loving himself.

The run time for this movie is about an hour and a half.  It’s rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language, some comic violence and drug references.

My expectations were pretty low coming into this movie.  In my mind there was no way they could up date something so dated as Get Smart.  I have to say that I stand corrected.  Get Smart runs about 1hr and 50 mins (some would say that’s a little too long) but it really didn’t feel that long.  The casting of Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart was dead on.  Not just because of the resemblance but Carell is a very balanced comic.  He can be subtle and he can also be physical.  For those of you that are not familiar with Get Smart here’s a brief synopsis of what Get Smart was:  Get Smart was a show created by Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles) and Buck Henry (The Graduate) which ran for 5 seasons (1965 - 1970) it the cold war spy genre.  Agent 86 Maxwell Smart was an agent of CONTROL the enemy agency was KAOS.This updated version is more of an origin story.  Maxwell Smart an analyst desperately wants to be an agent.  After taking the agent exam for the eighth time he finally passes but the Chief (played by Alan Arkin) says Max is just too good at his job to be promoted.  Suddenly CONTROL headquarters is attacked leaving all CONTROL agents identities compromised.  The chief has no choice to but to promote Max and partner him up with Agent 99 (played by Anne Hathaway).  The team is first sent to
Moscow to track down an arms dealer working for KAOS.  The dance scene at the arms dealer’s house is one of the funniest moments in the film.

Director Peter Segal did a very good job of giving this movie the feel of a Bond film while making it funny as some of his previous work.  It delivered on the action as well as the laughs.  I have no doubt that a squeal is in the works for this franchise.