Mike Myers is taking a lot of heat for his latest movie, The Love Guru. The majority of critics are complaining about the lowbrow and tasteless humor, the generally inane plot and the less-than-stellar acting from Myers and co-star Jessica Alba. Somehow, this is a surprise to people?

Alba has only one talent that keeps her in the movies: she is easy on the eyes. As for Myers and his material, well, that hasn’t really changed since he first arrived on Saturday Night Live. His characters—from Simon and his “draw-rings,” East German techno fan Dieter or even rock and roll wastehead Wayne Campbell—all seemed to revel in puns, pratfalls and cheap jokes.

Nothing changed when he created the Austin Powers character, and again nothing has changed with Guru Maurice Pitka, the self-proclaimed love guru.

Pitka’s charge is to help a star hockey player (Romany Malco) get over the stress of his wife leaving him so the team can snap a losing streak and make a run for the Stanley Cup. If he can do this, he will not only be paid $2 million, but he will also get the chance to live his life dream of being on the Oprah Winfrey Show and possibly overtake Deepak Chopra as the world’s leading self-help guru.

It’s a mindless journey full of typical Myers-type jokes, complete with the kind of sex jokes that keep teenage boys in stitches.

But with that said, it seems like Myers has found a style that he is comfortable with and that works for him. If you are a fan of his comedy, you’ll enjoy the movie; if not, it may be more of a gamble.

The DVD comes with the traditional fares of commentary, blooper reels and deleted scenes (Hollywood somehow thinks packaging together the stuff that wasn’t good enough to show in the theater justifies a $20 price tag). Don’t let the negative reviews dissuade you from giving this one a shot. It’s not nearly as pretentious as half the movies being released these days; it is funnier than most; and it is no less original than the endless string of remakes that seem to be all the rage these days.

By Greg Jones

Greg Jones is managing editor of Casino Connection Nevada, as well as associate editor of Global Gaming Business magazine.