The Love Guru (2008)

It has been a very long time since I had last seen the Canadian comedy legend and former Saturday Night Live Alum Mike Myers (So I Married An Ax Murderer) in a film. Mike has wowed us with how great he has been in various film franchises like Wayne's World, Shrek, and Austin Powers, but for today I had to explore 2008's The Love Guru which written by Myers and directed by Marco Schnabel (Austin Powers In Goldmember). The film stars Myers as Pitka, an American that was raised by gurus outside of the country. Pitka decides that it's time to return to the states to cash in on the self help guru craze so he gets involved with a hockey team to try and give confidence back to it's star player. The film also stars Jessica Alba (The Fantastic Four) as Jane Bullard, Justin Timberlake (Alpha Dog) as Jacques Grande, Verne Troyer (Bubble Boy) as Coach Punch Cherkov, Manu Narayan (The Last Airbender) as Rajneesh, John Oliver (The Lion King) as Dick Pants, Stephen Colbert as Jay Kell, Jim Gaffigan (The Jim Gaffigan Show) as Trent Lueders, Ben Kingsley (Iron Man 3) as Guru Tugginmypudha, Rob Huebel (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World) as Frat Guy, Daniel Tosh (Tosh.O) as Cowboy Hat, Meagan Good (Think Like A Man) as Prudence Roanoke, and Romany Malco (Top 5) as Darren Roanoke.

One thing that I am going to say right off the bat is that Justin Timberlake was the best part of this whole entire film. Justin is a renaissance man who can literally do it all as he has entertained us on the small screen, big screen, and of course on stages all over the world. He was a solid choice to play the rival hockey player who steals the star players wife and he was so funny. It was almost as if Mike Myers gave him all the funny lines and left none for himself in this film. I am not saying that the whole entire film was terrible because there were some funny scenes throughout, but Myers definitely laid an egg with this one as a lot of the comedy just felt forced and some of it was too stupid. I think a character like Pitka would have been better reserved for the Austin Powers series if you toned him down a bit and actually made him funny, but to try and capitalize on the self help craze was what he tried to do and it failed. I don't really have much more to say about the film other than it had some cool cinematography, but not enough to save this one. The film is currently available to stream for free on Tubi so check it out if you dare. I am going to give this one an D+ for a final grade because Timberlake keeps it from being an F.

30 Day Movie Challenge: Day 15- Top Five (2014)

I thought today would have been an easy challenge choice to make for the 30 Day Movie Challenge, but there were way too many choices for a comedy film. We are half way through the month so it's smooth sailing which is why I went with my first choice which was 2014's Top Five which was written, directed, and stars Chris Rock (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back). Rock stars as Andre Allen, a comedian who has hit a serious brick wall in his life and so with his fiance forcing him to air their love life and marriage as part of reality TV, he decides he wants to make serious films. The only problem is whether or not anyone else will take the fallen comedian seriously anymore? The film also stars Rosario Dawson (Jay and Silent Bob Reboot) as Chelsea Brown, J.B. Smoove (Spider-Man: Far From Home) as Silk, Gabrielle Union (10 Things I Hate About You) as Erica Long, Romany Malco (The 40 Year Old Virgin) as Benny Barnes, Hayley Marie Norman (Fired Up!) as Tammy, Cedric The Entertainer (A Haunted House) as Jazzy Dee, Michael Che (Saturday Night Live) as Paul, Sherri Shepherd (One For The Money) as Vanessa, Jay Pharoah (Ride Along) as Mike, Tracy Morgan (Accidental Love) as Fred, Hassan Johnson (The Devil's Own) as Craig, Leslie Jones (Ghostbusters) as Lisa, with cameos from Kevin Hart (Jumanji: The Next Level), Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems), Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld), Whoopi Goldberg (Eddie), Taraji P. Henson (Empire), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), DMX, Luis Guzmán (Carlito's Way), Tichina Arnold (Martin), and so many more.

The film was pretty interesting and I am not exactly sure if this is 100% based on just Chris Rock's career or if it's a combination of several comedians because I get an Eddie Murphy vibe with it and quite possible a Dave Chappelle vibe too, but again I am not sure. You can definitely see some comparisons in both of their careers where Chris was on top of the world only to be not as popular as before and only to be remembered for one role which is why I think that's Eddie Murphy and Beverly Hills Cop or Chris Tucker even with Rush Hour. I even thought it was funny to see Adam Sandler do a cameo in this film considering this is the funnier version of Funny People. There are a lot of great funny moments in the film, but they come at certain spots and the film focuses more on the relationship Rock has with Dawson's character and the whole time you are just waiting for that moment where he chooses to go with the right girl. The best part is that they end the film in a way that you have to assume that is what happened next and I liked that a lot because we didn;t actually need to see it. One of my favorite parts too is when he visits some family and it's all the SNL currents who may also be alums at this point, but it was great to see Chris include them as well in the film. In the film, Dawson picks her top 5 and so I will as well with Ice Cube, DMX, Snoop Dogg, Wu Tang Clan, and Nas being my top 5. Alright, I am going to go ahead and give the film an B+ for a final grade.