June
19
Love Guru's Myers Losing PR Wars
Mike Myers has a problem. It's been five years since his last picture, the over-the-top bomb Cat in the Hat, which sent me fleeing from the theater (something I rarely do). Myers has scored in the Shrek movies, but that's not going to keep him in the $20-million zone to which he has become accustomed. This weekend The Love Guru, which is projected to open behind Get Smart, will prove whether or not Myers still has a love connection with moviegoers. As of Friday, Rotten Tomatoes is ranking Get Smart at 54% fresh with film critics, while The Love Guru is at 14 % rotten.
There's a theory in Hollywood that karma really does follow you around, no matter who you are. While it's true that the studios tend to reward bad behavior like indulgent parents, especially with talent---he who shouts loudest tends to get his way--things do have a way of coming around. When the world turned against former CAA czar Mike Ovitz, there weren't a lot of people coming to his defense. His Disney nemesis Michael Eisner has never inspired warm and fuzzy feelings either. Meanwhile the schadenfreude is thick around Warners producer Joel Silver, who is having a run of bad luck at the boxoffice.
EW goes after Myers' reputation for being difficult in this cover profile:
Still, the fact is, within Hollywood, not everyone is cheering for Myers to succeed. Since early in his career the actor has been tagged with a reputation for being difficult to work with: moody, controlling, and arrogant. That description could, of course, fit many actors and filmmakers, but the degree of enmity directed toward Myers by some who've worked with him — even years after the fact — is rare. Says one executive who has had a rocky relationship with Myers: ''I honestly root against him.'' Penelope Spheeris, who directed Myers in his first film, the 1992 smash Wayne's World, says she has shared war stories with others who've worked with the actor. ''Maybe he could open, like, a children's hospital to clean up his rep,'' she jokes darkly. ''He's got to do something pretty quick.''
Here's Variety's review, which basically recommends the movie as dumb comedy for 13-year-old boys. UPDATE: My column this week explores how hard it is for stars like Myers to stay in The Fluke Zone. Biting reviews like this one by John Anderson won't help:
Mike Myers isn't the Antichrist, exactly. But he is anti-comedy -- if one believes comedy ought to be smart, new, surprising, or, yes, funny. This isn't an accusation. It's been Myers's shtick for a long, long time: Jokes that don't work, bad jokes, lame jokes, jokes that are 40 years old and jokes told by characters we should be feeling sorry for -- the chronically adolescent hero of "Wayne's World," for instance, or the deluded hipster of "Austin Powers." Losers lacking Chaplinesque pathos. Misshapen social cogs without the virtue of an interesting angle.In short, Mike Myers's oeuvre is about sympathy laughs, although it's not his on-screen persona we're feeling sorry for in "The Love Guru." It is, at long last, Myers himself.
Myers has been doing the PR rounds, with often delightful results. Here's his Barbra Streisand story on Shootout:
The Love Guru, he says, was inspired by Deepak Chopra: "It's a comedy. The best delivery system for ideas is silliness."
UPDATE: He was more uncomfortable on Jon Stewart Thursday night:
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Since I have never met the man, I just recall how hard he made me laugh...IN THE 1990S. I couldn't care less if his coworkers can't stand him -- but he hasn't made something truly funny for the adult mind in quite some time.
Posted by: comedy fan | June 20, 2008 at 05:23 AM
I think that TDS interview was actually the best of the lot.
Although I havent seen the movie (and have no immediate plans to do so), reading these and Peter Bart's post, makes me wonder if the man is trying to grow out of his 90s persona, not just as an individual but with his comedic style - but hasn't figured it out yet. Maybe the Love Guru is the best thing to happen to him and he can start from scratch again.
Posted by: Amrita | June 21, 2008 at 07:34 AM