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It's been five years since The Cat in the Hat, which was the last time a non-animated movie brought on a live-action Mike Myers publicity push, so maybe we've just let our calluses go soft. But with The Love Guru opening on Friday, we find ourselves with a growing sense of hostility toward the movie, funny accents, Verne Troyer, Jessica Alba, enlightenment, sitars, and Deepak Chopra. Fortunately, we're not alone. While Myers sees the movie as "a delivery system for some wonderful ideas," a new Entertainment Weekly profile makes it seem like quite a few people he's worked with in the past are actively rooting against him. Probably including the "executive" who says, "I honestly root against him."
Wayne's World director Penelope Spheeris, always good for an unpolished pearl of wisdom, says of Myers, "I hated that bastard for years." She claims to have forgiven him in deference to his talent after seeing Austin Powers, but still gives off a distinct guts-hating vibe with the suggestion, "Maybe he could open, like, a children's hospital to clean up his rep." So I Married an Axe Murderer producer Rob Fried says that although Myers is "a visionary," his approach is to "emote and threaten and express anger." Sounds like somebody needed to start repeating "Mariska Hargitay" a little sooner.
If you're the kind of person who watches Saturday Night Live and wishes every sketch lasted an hour and a half, you may very well enjoy The Love Guru, and more power to you if you do. But we must admit, we're not eager for the movie to succeed either. Not because we have anything against Mike Myers, but because we have no desire to spend the summer of 2010 watching commercials for The Love Guru 2: This Time, He's Episcopalian. —Linda Holmes
Mike Myers: Man of Mystery [EW]
