Damn, New York Times Critis A.O. Scott either woke up on the wrong side of the bed or “The Love Guru,” is indeed the worst film of the year (and possibly all time). Scathing reviews are suggesting the latter as most critics would apparently rather live in a 24-hour M. Night Shyamalan world than endure the excruciating pain that is sitting through Mike Myers’ seemingly uber-insipid comedy again.
To be fair, Scott seems like he genuinely disliked the film and has no axe to grind. You can practically feel him cringe through the review as he has to open that part of his memory he had hoped to forget. The Times movie scribe makes a case for the word “antifunny,” and suggests Myers’ cloying snickering may never allow you to properly laugh again. It’s a relentless critical beatdown if we’ve ever seen one.
“Which might sum up The Love Guru in its entirety but only at the risk of grievously understating the movies awfulness. A whole new vocabulary seems to be required. To say that the movie is not funny is merely to affirm the obvious. The word unfunny surely applies to Mr. Myers’ obnoxious attempts to find mirth in physical and cultural differences but does not quite capture the strenuous unpleasantness of his performance. No, The Love Guru is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again.”
Scott, having already handed Myers his ass within the first three graphs of the piece, continues to eviscerate the comedian, his movie and goes on at length to define the comics “antifunny” approach.
“And this is, come to think of it, something of an achievement. What is the opposite of a belly laugh? An interesting question, in a way, and to hear lines like I think I just made a happy wee-wee or Im making diarrhea noises in my cup or to watch apprentice gurus attack one another with urine-soaked mops is to grasp the answer. Please dont misunderstand: Im not opposed to infantile, regressive, scatological humor. Indeed, I consider myself something of a connoisseur. Or maybe a glutton. So its not that I object to the idea of, say, witnessing elephants copulate on the ice in the middle of a Stanley Cup hockey match, or seeing a dwarf sent flying over the same ice by the shock of defibrillator paddles. But it will never be enough simply to do such things. They must be done well.”
“The Love Guru” sits at a currently abysmal 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes as we speak. If America decides to still attend this film in droves this weekend, we wouldn’t be surprised at all. But just remember even Harry Knowles hated it and that guy will pretty much endorse any piece of shit with anything resembling a beginning, middle, end and credits.