Yes, the critics have crushed The Love Guru, featuring Mike Myers as The Guru Pitka–an American turned Hindu guru.  Even though it bombed in ratings, I think it is still worth 88 minutes and $8.50 of your life.

I’ll give you the list, and you can reveal the spoilers if you want to.

Show SpoilersHide Spoilers

5. Justin Timberlake as Jacques “Le Coq” Grande

Justin Timberlake plays a magnificent-membered French hockey player with a curiously hilarious addiction to Celine Dion and Pop-Tarts/Ketchup pizzas.  Yes, he is “smuggling a schnauzer.”  In a locker room scene with a reporter, Jacques un-towels after a shower and a distinct thump is heard and then many gasps from all witnesses.

What could be funnier than a French man with a Celine Dion fetish played by Justin Timberlake?

4. The Anagrams

The Guru Pitka has many trademarked anagrams/sayings that help him teach.  This is probably a comedic ploy adored by only me and Mike Myers, but flippant intellectual right protection is strangely hilarious.

The trailer showed one anagram: G-U-R-U.  But the movie showcases many, many more trademarked anagrams that are worth seeing.

Clarity, Organization, Charm and Knowledge is another fantastic acronym.  But that’s only one.  There are several more.

3. Stephen Colbert as a sports announcer

Colbert appears alongside Jim Gaffigan as a sports announcer.  He showcases the Colbert sense of humor in a different, refreshing way.

In one part, Colbert explains the five spot (a hockey term) by using the on-screen illustrator.  He proceeds to draw a phallus by highlighting various parts of a picture of Justin Timberlake.  The camera pans out when the images get in appropriate, but watching Colbert actually finish the drawing is hilarious.

2. A Mike Myers cameo

I’ve already said to much.  Reveal spoilers–if you want to.

In the climax of the movie, Mike Myers appears, with Kanye West, saying “I love hockey!”  Myers clearly likes playing more than one character in his movies–but he’s not a narcissistic, role-muncher like Eddie Murphy.

1. Wayne’s World hat tip.

For fans of Myers, a well-placed inside joke is there to reward your years of loyalty.

For any Mike Myers fan, this was an awesome moment.  A car scene, intended to develop the “regression” plot of hockey star Darren Roanoke, involved an argument over the controls of the car stereo.  In switching the radio’s presets, the song Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen plays briefly, during which Guru Pitka (Myers) looks at the camera–effectively breaking the fourth wall–and rewarding his faithful fans with an inside joke.

I recently saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I, like many other kids, was raised on the original trilogy. I think I’ve seen The Last Crusade about 38 times, so I was pretty excited to see something new. (I was also sitting right up in the front row, which meant I had to turn my head a lot to see who was talking and what was going on.)

I’ve read other reviews saying things like,

“it was so cheesy/campy”

“there were plot holes”

“that stunt couldn’t have been possible in real life!!”

“that’s not historically/culturally accurate”

Now wait, folks. Have you ever SEEN the original movies? Remember them jumping out of the plane on an inflatable raft, and then floating safely down through the air? Stereotypes running wild? Heck, I think this movie fits in just perfectly with the other three. You can sit and criticize the disregard for physics or human sustainability (how exactly do you live in a wall?), or you can enjoy the ride. Indy’s less of a cocky firecracker here and more of a trash-kickin’ old man, and that’s fun to see. Cate Blanchett also rocks the house. I’m an Aztec/Mayan nerd, so seeing that setting was extra fun. I left the theater pretty sure I would watch the first three movies at some point this week - especially Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In short: See it with your friends, it’ll be fun.