Those of you who can remember back to the days when Mike Myers was a regular on Saturday Night Live may remember him as I do, which is that his skits were either very funny or completely NOT funny. While I've found that opinions are mixed on whether his "Austin Powers" movies are funny or not, I enjoyed them and found them to be pretty funny on balance. I can't say the same for The Love Guru. It's really not funny at all.
Austin Powers used a lot of sophomoric humor that, while a little tired by the third movie, seemed to work. The same type of humor is used in The Love Guru, but it just doesn't work. For example, the joke in Austin Powers about him being "in a nutshell" is corny, but in the context of the movie it works. A similar joke in The Love Guru, where a dessert involving nuts placed inside a piece of pastry are described as "nuts in a sling" falls flat. It doesn't fit the situation in which it's used, and comes across as the writers stretching too far to make a joke.
Similarly, the character of Guru Pitka is inconsistent as well. After telling the hockey star he's supposedly helping that it's important for him not to fight anyone on the ice for any reason, a few minutes later he's giving exactly the opposite advice for no obvious reason. In fact, what I know of gurus tells me that in general they're against violence. For some reason, Guru Pitka starts bar fights, hockey ice fights, etc.
My guess is that someone gave Myers too much control over this film, and he delivered one of those performances that on SNL would have been the "not funny at all" variety.
If you liked Austin Powers, I think you'll be disappointed by this film.
July 2008 Archives
I really enjoy the original "Get Smart" television series, and it's no wonder. There were some amazing acting and writing talents behind the episodes of that show. As Maxwell Smart, Don Adams played a perfect bumbling blowhard who somehow manages to save the day for CONTROL and defeat the agents of CHAOS. I'm not saying it was the ideal sitcom, but it was definitely funny and enjoyable to watch. I can't say that for the new "Get Smart" movie starring Steve Carrell. I'd like to, because Carrell's a nice guy and can be really funny, but I just can't.
I think the reason this movie fails is that it takes the elements that key to the television series and throws them out the window. For example, the "television" Smart might bend down to tie his shoe, causing an enemy agent to trip over Smart and fall off a cliff. The "movie" Smart in one scene uses a fire extinguisher to blind his victims and hits one in the head with the device. The "bumbling oaf" has become a clever and resourceful spy in the film. Unfortunately, this "reasonably poised, reasonably confident, capable agent" can't deliver the classic Maxwell Smart lines the same way, and when he tries, the result isn't humorous.
If you're thinking about plunking down some cash to see this movie, my advice is to save your money and go buy DVDs of the television series. Even at its worst, it was funnier than the movie.
On Bob and Tom today, comedian Drew Hastings compared his past girlfriends to Pringles. First, he said, they're mostly white. Second, they're slightly warped. And Third, it's hard to get them out of the can...
I make no claim to the following. It's a poem by comedian Paul Gilmartin. I heard it again on the Bob and Tom show recently and it cracked me up, so I thought I'd share it with you. If you enjoy it, check out the Bob and Tom site or Paul Gilmartin's site for more humor just like it...
and then their eyes did meet.
Betty the Bearded Lady
and Tom the Four-inch Freak.
Tom lowered his voice and made a pass,
"What're you doin' later?"
Betty thought as she stroked her beard,
"Nothin' sweet potater."
People pointed, jokes were made,
but it fell on four deaf ears.
Tom thrust his tiny shoulders back,
and ignored the painful jeers.
"Betty," he said, "The world can be
such a cruel, unfeeling place."
She said, "I know my little punkin',"
and kissed his tiny face.
She carried him through the parking lot,
to the woods that lay beyond.
Never before had either felt
such an instant common bond.
"Betty," he said, gazing down at his tiny platform shoe,
"Tonight I would like nothing more
than to make sweet love to you."
She said, "I'm a virgin."
He said, "So am I."
She said, "Don't you think that's weird?"
He said, "Not really, I'm four inches tall
and, you know, you've got the beard."
She pressed him tight against her bosom,
he inhaled her perfumed air.
He covered her neck with tiny hickies,
and stroked her facial hair.
The moonlight danced off his cowboy hat,
she giggled and she swayed.
She undid his tiny rhinestone belt.
A cricket looked away.
She set him down, unzipped her dress,
still tipsy from the booze.
She tripped pulling off her panties,
and crushed him with her shoes.
Bearded Betty never married.
Her mistake sure took its toll.
She still owns that pair of shoes,
and Tom's still in her sole.
A wild rabbit finds himself caught in a trap. The next day, he's pulled out of the trap and delivered to a research lab where he's stuck in a cage with another rabbit. Having tasted freedom, the wild rabbit doesn't want to spend the rest of his life cooped up in a cage being experimented on. He turns to the other rabbit and says, "Don't worry buddy, tonight we're going to bust out of here."
The other rabbit says, "Gee, I don't know. I've spent my whole life in the lab and I don't know how well I'd do out there in the wild."
The wild rabbit tells him, "Don't worry. I've lived in the wild all my life. I'll show you all the best fields."
That night, they manage to escape the cage and get out of the lab. The wild rabbit takes his new companion to a field full of tender lettuce and tells him, "This is the third best field in the world."
Then, they go to another field, where the wild rabbit says, "This is the second best field in the world." It's filled with delicious carrots. The two stuff their faces.
Finally, they arrive at what the wild rabbit says is "the best field in the world." This one is filled with lady rabbits. The two males spend the night doing what male and female rabbits do together.
Finally, exhausted, the lab rabbit turns to his wild cohort and says, "This has been really great, but I've got to go back to the lab."
"Why?" his new friend asks.
"After all we've done, I'm just dying for a cigarette!"
