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Justin Timberlake as Jacques Grande

But the subject matter of Sandler's film is inherently more interesting than anything Myers might have to say about the shallowness of pop spirituality, and the moral of Sandler's film, such as it is, has lingered in my mind for the past few weeks, while I am writing this review mere hours after seeing The Love Guru and already I can feel it slipping out of my memory. There simply isn't a whole lot worth retaining here.

If, like me, you grow tired of films that rely on a non-stop stream of genitalia gags—with a few pee and poop jokes thrown in for good measure—then the relentlessly juvenile tone of The Love Guru certainly won't be for you. But the film is not entirely unfunny. There are chuckles to be had from the opening scene, in which a famous actor mocks himself without ever appearing onscreen, to the closing credits, where an outtake shows Troyer tossing off an unscripted quip that is funnier than just about anything that is said within the film itself. I also got a kick out of the Hockey Night in Canada segments that begin with the animated logos for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings violently bumping each other off; and Stephen Colbert throws in some weird, absurdist moments as a seriously out-of-control sports announcer.

But for the most part, this film is a waste of time. In one of his many bon mots, Guru Pitka promises to take his followers from "Nowhere" to "Now here." But too often, the gags leave you shrugging and thinking, "I guess you had to be there."

Talk About It

1. The gurus in this film say you need to learn to love yourself before you can love others. Is that true?
2. Do you think Guru Pitka is in a position to give advice to other people when he has not entirely succeeded in learning the lesson that his own guru gave him? How grown-up does someone have to be before he or she can help someone else to be a mature adult?
3. As shallow as Guru Pitka's lessons are, is there anything we can learn from them? What about sayings like, "There is no such thing as failure, only early attempts at success"? Do you agree or disagree? Why?

The Family Corner

The Love Guru is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout (including frequent references to the male crotch, penis-shaped food items, and so on, as well as people playing with urine-soaked mops and animals leaving droppings outside buildings and copulating in public), language (some English four-letter words, a French curse word), some comic violence (a bar fight involves a lot of chairs being smashed over people's heads, and someone pulls a piece of glass out of his forehead) and drug references.

Photos © Copyright Paramount Pictures

© Peter T. Chattaway subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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