Catching an afternoon screening of Iron Man last weekend, the questionably denigrating representations of Afghani villains bugged me less than the bizarre cultural references in the trailers preceding it -- especially when it came to accents. Three previews in a row contained characters speaking intentionally mangled English, a fact all the more recognizable because all of them were played by well-known actors. You Don't Mess With Zohan showed Adam Sandler as a tough Israeli hair stylist. The Love Guru preview found Mike Myers blabbering on with South Asian inflections. Rounding things out in perhaps the most innocuous case, Cate Blanchett popped up as a Communist baddie in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Are these gross caricatures or fair play?

We've touched on this issue before, but it looks like each month the trend gets a little stronger. There's edgy and there's a line: Borat may or may not send the wrong message, but the character's faux Kazakh accent tells you a lot about the way Americans tend to judge foreigners on the basis of their less-than-perfect English. The specific nature of the satire gives Cohen's performance an underlying purpose -- unlike, say, Love Guru, which seems more like a chance to ignorantly marvel at Myers' ability to turn Indians into a continuous punchline. Recently, a few Hindu groups launched protests against the film. This could mark uncharted terrain for Myers, who did not, as far as I know, get lambasted by any hippies after the first Austin Powers.

So, apparently Mike Myers has created a new character. His name is Pitka, he's a new-age guru, and his personal mantra is "Mariska Hargitay." And no, I'm not making him up. According to Variety, Mr. Pitka (Or maybe he's a one-name guru? The Pele of the guru world, if you will.) is going to be the focus of a new, untitled movie that Myers is in talk to make for Paramount. Assuming the deal goes through, Myers himself will star in the picture, as well and producing and co-writing it. The movie will not, however, be the first public look at Pitka -- he made appearances in Myer's recent series of stage shows, and clearly road-tested well enough to lead Myers to believe he can carry a movie.

Here's my concern about this project: While I'm perfectly willing to believe that Pitka is funny (Did I mention that he wears assless chap?), if Myers is going to beat him mercilessly when he's dead and, say, draw him out into three, increasingly unfunny movies, I'd almost rather he didn't start. Well hell, who knows: Maybe Paramount will be the first studio ever to make only one movie about a funny character, no matter how much money it makes. No, really. (And I almost typed that with a straight face.)