Fitted with an elegant mane of hair, a moustache which curls at the ends, and an Indian accent, Mike Myers plays Guru Pitka; an Indian expert who can solve everyone’s relationship problems. Or at least that’s what his reputation would suggest.

Pitka is bent on becoming the number one self-help guru in town. And he will do whatever it takes to usurp the throne of Deepak Chopra (an actual mind-body guru hailed “the poet-prophet of alternative medicine” by Time Magazine). Of course, to get to the top he needs to secure a spot on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

But that gig won’t come for free. He must first build up his cred by rekindling a broken relationship between a Toronto Maple Leaves ice-hockey star and his ex-girlfriend who now has another man. So he zips around on his electrified pillow trying to fix the problems.

Aside from voicing Shrek, Mike Myers – of Austin Powers and Wayne’s World fame - hasn’t made any films during the past five years. And with the kind of reviews the Love Guru is getting around the place, he may want to go back into hiding.

It’s true; the film – which is co-written by Myers – has some funny moments. Like when Pitka breaks into song with his sitar and sings Indian-style pop music. Or when Mike Myers’ face is superimposed on a child’s body to create a young Pitka.

But unfortunately a plethora of crass sex jokes spoil whatever potential the plot had. It is as if the filmmakers are fighting to keep the audience smiling one cheap gag at a time. This makes the film not only predictable, but at times an assault on your intelligence.

It’s hard then to know what to make of the social comments littered through the film. Did Myers intend for us to deconstruct the script? Or is everything just a light-hearted laugh which can be thrown out as soon as we leave the cinema?

Pitka repeatedly rattles off acronyms he has formed that give supposed insightful wisdom to the listener far beyond the meaning of the word itself. One in particular may give us an interesting revelation. It reads: B-I-B-L-E - Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. It’s probably just a throw away line. Something Myers and company never put much thought into. But I suspect it may just reveal a common attitude toward the Bible. That being, the Bible is simply an instruction book, full of laws and advice to make life slightly more bearable. Christians know, of course, that’s not the truth. But have we told our neighbours?

The other notable thing about the film for Christian viewers is its cynicism about so-called experts. The kind of people who impart wisdom to everyone they meet. The kind of people gathering a group of followers who will swallow everything they say. Pitka is always throwing people one-liners and proverbs which are about as helpful as the stuff you read in, well, self-help books. They include: “Tonight I want you to go from nowhere to now-here”; and “To know something is good, to do something is God”; and “Intimacy: in-to-me-I-see.” But despite his gimmicks, people eat up his words like sweet mud cake.

One particular statement made by Guru Pitka drips with extra sarcasm: “I don’t need material things… I was put on this earth to spread a message of peace and love.” I suspect Myers was taking a wide swing at all the spiritual-expert, non-materialistic, world-peace-promoting types here.

It reminds me of an email exchange I had with an Atheist friend the other day. He wrote that one of his major objections to Jesus was his charisma. He suggested it wasn’t a good idea to follow such a captivating leader. And genital jokes aside, I think that may be the point Mike Myers is trying to make in the Love Guru. He wants to discourage viewers from putting their faith in alluring personalities.

In some ways Myers is right to be cynical. We as Christians can join him in questioning who all these health, wealth and prosperity experts are and why we should listen to them anyway. On the other hand, the Love Guru reminds us of the way people see Jesus as just another self-help counsellor who had a few good morals worth telling your kids about, but not as Lord and King worthy of your undivided worship.

If you’re looking to belly laugh your way through a film, the Love Guru will disappoint you (and it may really offend some). But if you happen to see it, look out for the few noteworthy satirical moments. They may just give us some insight into how to reach the self-help obsessed culture around us with the ultimate message of help for sinners.