How ‘The Love Guru’ ruined Mike Myers’ career
When The Love Guru was released in 2008, it was widely regarded as one of the worst films of the year. Co-written and starring Mike Myers, the film follows the self-proclaimed “number-two guru in the world” Guru Pitka, who must revitalise the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team to become the next Deepak Chopra.
The movie, also starring Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake, Verne Troyer, John Oliver and Ben Kingsley, was a complete and utter failure, both critically and commercially, grossing $40 million on a budget of $62 million. Furthermore, the film, directed by Marco Schnabel, won three Razzie Awards: Worst Picture, Worst Screenplay and Worst Actor for Myers.
There are many reasons why The Love Guru fails, most notably its offensive and stereotypical depiction of Indian characters and Hinduism. Moreover, the movie’s dialogue is downright terrible and cringe-inducing. Every attempt at humour fall far from the mark.
The backlash Myers received for his role as the Guru marked the downfall of his once fruitful career. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Myers was an incredibly successful Hollywood favourite. The actor rose to prominence in the late 1980s when he began to make regular appearances on Saturday Night Live. Henceforth, Myers made his film debut as Wayne Campbell in 1992’s Wayne’s World, which he adapted from his SNL sketches. The comedy was highly prosperous, becoming the tenth highest-grossing movie of 1992.
Myers continued to ride a wave of success, starring in Wayne’s World 2 and So I Married an Axe Murderer the following year. He rounded off the 1990s and moved into the 2000s with the Austin Powers series, playing the titular role. The actor also bagged the leading role of Shrek in the hit animated movie, which he reprised in its subsequent sequels. Myers even played the eponymous character in the critically panned yet severely underrated The Cat in the Hat.
However, if Myers thought The Cat in the Hat‘s reception was bad enough, he was unprepared for The Love Guru. The film was doomed from the beginning, and even its intense marketing campaign, which included a bizarre meeting of Myers in character with the contestants of American Idol during the season seven finale, couldn’t save it. Even worse, the movie was leaked online a day before its release by Jack Yates, a distribution company worker. He was jailed for six months for his crime, which was arguably not as heinous as the movie itself.
Since the tragedy of The Love Guru, Myers has starred in very few films besides the odd role here and there, like Bohemian Rhapsody, Inglorious Basterds, and most recently, David O. Russell’s Amsterdam. He created the television show The Pentaverate last year, which was received negatively. It seems as though Myers’ style of comedy has failed to grow and move with the times.
Nonetheless, Myers doesn’t regret making The Love Guru, telling GQ that he is “really proud” of the film.
