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.

Bubble Boy (2001)

One of the ideas of doing a blog site like this or a movie challenge of any sorts is to check out films that you may have missed because they fell by the wayside or you just couldn't get around to them. Back in 2016, I did a 366 movie challenge and one of the actors I enjoyed the most were films with Jake Gyllenhaal (Enemy) who has also grown to be one of my favorite actors in the world. The film I decided to watch for today is one that I avoided for obviously a very long time, but never late than never as I watched 2001's Bubble Boy. The film was a dark comedic take on the 1976 classic The Boy In The Plastic Bubble as Gyllenhaal stars as Jimmy Livingston, a boy who has lived in a plastic bubble his whole life because he has no immunity system. After becoming best friends with Chloe (Marley Shelton), the girl next door, he begins to fall in love with her, but then he finds out she's getting married to some jerk. One day, he decides to build a bubble suit so he can try and stop the wedding from happening. The film also stars Danny Trejo (Machete) as Slim, Swoosie Kurtz (Liar Liar) as Mrs. Livingston, John Carroll Lynch (American Horror Story) as Mr. Livingston, Verne Troyer (The Love Guru) as Dr. Phreak, Matthew McGrory (The Devil's Rejects) as Human Sasquatch, Brian George (Employee Of The Month) as Pushpop, Patrick Cranshaw (Old School) as Pappy, and the film was directed by Blair Hayes (Night Music).

I was actually expecting this film to be very cheesy considering it was showing for free on the VUDU app, but it really wasn't all that bad. It actually had some real funny moments in the film that had me in stitches. Here is this kid that is being raised by a super religious mother inside of a plastic bubble and the only education he knows is that of what his mother has taught him. So, when Marley Shelton's character comes over to visit, things begin to happen that never had before for him and it's the funniest thing. The real awesome and funny moments of the film happen when he hits the road and man was it a fun movie to watch at that point. There are some great moments and great cameos from future stars like Zach Galifianakis, Arden Myrin, Pablo Schreiber, and various Hollywood deep cut names like Robert LaSardo, Fabio, Cleo King, The Sklar Brothers, and even Leo Fitzpatrick (Kids). Those are just some of the names that help play a part in all of the madness that ensues in the film once he gets out on the road. The only thing that I will say about the film that I didn't enjoy was the film's choice for the "villain boyfriend" role that was played by Dave Sheridan and I am honestly not sure if it was because he wasn't enough of a presence or if the role was just bad. I have seen better guys play the asshole boyfriend role and even Craig Kilborn did a better job in Old School then he did and that's because the writing for his role was better. All I am saying is that you're not even worried in the slightest that he is going to actually marry Marley's character. You kind of figure that Jake's character is going to save the day that's how bad that was. It was a decent, fun film to watch, and why not it was free on VUDU. That is why I am going to give the film an C+/B- (somewhere in there) for a final grade.