Mike Myers Tagged Articles at Cinematical

This is what cameos are all about. Sometimes an actor performs a cameo in heavy disguise, and it's up to the viewer to "find" him or her. But the best cameos are the ones that take into account the personality of the performer/writer/athlete/politician, and then make some kind of wry comment on it. If you're wondering how an upstart like Mike Myers could have coaxed the Oscar-winning legend and Shakespearian actor Charlton Heston into a less-than-one-minute scene in a comedy sequel, just check out this clip. I doubt any actor could have resisted.

The joke here is doubly cool. For a time, Heston was considered a kind of parody of a great actor. He had appeared in many big, important classics, including The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur and Touch of Evil, but before long, he was the star of some big-budget drive-in movies like Planet of the Apes (and sequels) and The Omega Man, yet performed them with the same rock-faced dignity. Was he aware of the course his career had taken? Was he remarkably clueless? Was his ego getting in the way? In 30 seconds, Myers cannily deconstructs Heston by taking a "bad actor" (Al Hansen) out of a totally meaningless scene and replacing him with a "good actor" (Heston). Heston reads a silly speech about a girl he once knew, and Myers leaves -- moved almost to the point of tears. We initially laugh at the idea of Heston as "good actor," but at the end of 30 seconds, we're ready to believe it.

Watch the classic cameo after the jump.

What do you do when your new movie turns into one of the biggest bombs of the summer? You go back to what you know. Take this rumor for what it's worth -- probably not much given its "anonymous insider" source -- but the word is that Mike Myers has shaken off (or maybe learned from) the disaster that was The Love Guru, and has set to writing a fourth Austin Powers flick. According to the same rumor, he'll be collaborating on the screenplay with Michael McCullers, the SNL vet who wrote and made his directing debut with this year's considerably more successful Baby Mama. The plot will have a "father and son theme loosely based on his own life" (??!!) which suggests a prominent place in the cast for Seth Green.

I didn't think The Love Guru was very funny -- and neither did anyone else, I don't think -- but I did appreciate how giddy Myers got about fart jokes and lame double entendres. Genuine enthusiasm can go a long way in comedy, and Myers has never lacked for that, which is largely the reason why I'm not ready to give up on him just yet. Well, and also the fact that I thought all three of the Powers movies were pretty good.

And I'll say this: I laughed at the Guru Pitka's use of "Mariska Hargitay" as a patented mantra. Sue me.

We know that Val Kilmer is talented, whether it's morphing into icons like John Holmes or Jim Morrison, or voicing KITT, or being Bruce Wayne. But these days, Kilmer is all about the inspiration. There was talk recently of a collaboration with 50 Cent on some music, and now the actor has told MTV that he's the man behind Dr. Evil's Mini-Me -- not quite the news you'd expect to hear.

He explains: "[I was] the genesis of Mini-Me... [On] Island of Dr. Moreau, I told Marlon Brando my plan to save my performance just in case there was a giant hole in the second half. I was going to strap the little man to my chest. And, you know, you can't get around that visual. And then he [Brando] STOLE my little man!" So then he sees Vern Troyer on the big screen as Mini-Me, and "I asked Mike Myers about it myself. He said, 'absolutely.'" (That it came from the movie.)

So there you have it, folks. Val Kilmer is the reason that we now have Vern Troyer.

If you don't count his vocal work in the Shrek films, The Love Guru marks the return of Mike Myers to the big screen after a five-year absence. Last seen in 2003's The Cat in the Hat, Myers is now unveiling -- or is that unleashing? -- a new character, Guru Pitka, a self-help maven who brings the spiritual teachings he learned from Guru Tugginmypudha (Ben Kingsley) in India to America. Much like Austin Powers, Guru Pitka gives Myers an opportunity to play to what he thinks of as his strengths, giving us an outlandish-looking character with a thick accent and a fish-out-of-water back story. The problem is that Pitka's entirely too much like Austin Powers -- not a character, but instead a series of catchphrases, makeup appliances and goofy mannerisms that lets Meyers indulge in his penchant for sex gags, bodily-function gags and constant, self-satisfied glances at the camera.

Any time you review a film like this negatively, people ask "Why can't you just enjoy a few laughs?" And I can't give a simple answer to that, but I think it comes down to the fact that I can't just enjoy a few laughs if they're surrounded by a much larger chaotic mass of things that aren't funny. So it is with The Love Guru, as Pitka's brought to Toronto to help Jane Bullard (Jessica Alba), the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, get her broken-hearted star player Darren Roanoke (Romany Malco) over his girlfriend Prudence (Megan Good) leaving him for L.A. Kings goalie Jacques "Le Coq" Grande (Justin Timberlake) so that the Leafs might win the Stanley Cup. The occasional funny bit is drowned out by the mass and might of Meyers's self-indulgent eagerness to wallow in his obsessions -- poop, accents, naughty talk, makeup and innuendo.

I caught a screening of Hancock last night. We still have a couple weeks to go before we get to that film, but I am very curious to hear what you folks think of this flick. It's certainly ballsy (especially for a Fourth of July weekend), and I loved that about it -- so we'll see. My mouth shall remain shut for now. That said, this weekend is a peculiar one because we have two comedies competing against one another. Sure, one (Get Smart) could probably pass itself off as an action-comedy, but it will be fascinating to watch the old school (Mike Myers) go up against the new school (Steve Carell).

On paper (and from what I've been hearing), Get Smart seems like the better all-around choice if you only have cash for one film and want a taste of typical, popcorn summer entertainment. Then again, Mike Myers hasn't starred in a live-action film since 2003's The Cat and the Hat, and so fans might be itching for that familiar Myers absurdity (with a twist of Mini Me thrown in for extra punch). If you choose your films based on the female factor, well, Get Smart gives us the beautiful Anne Hathaway, while The Love Guru features the equally-as-beautiful Jessica Alba. My opinion: Hathaway's the better actress, but Alba's the fan favorite. As far as directors go, Love Guru gives us a first-timer, and Get Smart is brought to us by the guy behind films like Tommy Boy, Anger Management and 50 First Dates.

So, based on my shoddy analysis, which film will you be seeing this weekend?

While my kids probably would have preferred to have the Hulk Smash hands that Erik got this week, they were temporarily jazzed with this week's cool swag: The Love Guru Magic 8-Ball! He's groovy! He looks like a molded plastic Jesus, only with a Madonna-esque birthmark and an unfortunate discount eyebrow-waxing job! He wears flowers and love beads!

And he answers all your deepest life questions with such sage responses as "Yo Momma," "The Only Way Out is In," and "Touch the Holiness."

Mike Myers' latest, The Love Guru, has been sparking up a lot of controversy. There were (and still are) Hindu protests based on the trailers. Then, the British Film Institute declared that it wouldn't screen the film, nor would it be involved with any release of the comedy. Now, we're getting some positive press about the film -- straight from Deepak Chopra.

He wrote a post in his blog called Love Guru: Hindu Lions and Hollywood Lambs? back in April, and it's now hitting the wire, since he says that the protests are unwarranted. He discusses previous films and their impacts, the importance of comedy in faith, and his own involvement with the film. "As viewers will find out when the movie is released this summer, no one is more thoroughly skewered in it than I am --- you could even say that I am made to seem preposterous. If I don't take offense and some Hindus do, that doesn't make me superior or more mature or even innately tolerant. I just know the difference between a belly laugh and a diatribe."

The Hollywood Reporter fleshes out the story, discussing Chopra's relationship with Myers -- his books reportedly helped Myers through depression and led to the new character, he got Chopra's blessing before making it, they've popped up together on Iconoclasts, and Myers wrote the forward for Why is God Laughing?

Are the Hindu protesters jumping the gun? Is Chopra being too forgiving? We'll find out soon enough -- the film opens on June 20.

"The second one's gonna be f**kin' badass!"-- Megan Fox on Transformers 2

The 2008 MTV Movie Awards are in the books and Transformers came out on top with the best movie award, with director Michael Bay and an unbelievably hot (seriously -- no one should be that good looking) Megan Fox accepting the honors. Bay, who was sitting next to his own Fox all night, looked happy up there at the podium -- and if it was possible to make love to yourself on live television, we probably would've seen something nasty.

Highlights for me this year include a very funny Wayne's World reunion, in which the boys counted down the top ten porn names for 2008 films (even though half the flicks mentioned came out in 2007). Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. cracked me up big time with their Tropic Thunder viral video bit, which concluded with them blowing up Black's head in order to impress Stiller's overweight, internet nerdy nephew. (Loved the line about Iron Man: "It'll do till The Dark Knight gets here." Classic!)

Myers was a decent host; liked the animal trainer bit; was iffy on the craft services chick. How odd was that gum commercial/sketch with the award rolling around in the bathroom? Thought the Sandler tribute was cute, though most of the intro jokes fell flat. (I love Seth Rogen and James Franco, but that pot bit tanked hard. Did you see the uncomfortable looks from the audience? And what was up with the wide shot for the entire bit, this way no one at home could actually see what was happening on stage?) Oh, and I will admit -- the kiss from Step Up 2 the Streets was kinda hot. Step Up 3 Way ... anyone? J/K!!

Favorite moments from this year's show? Did you watch it? Do you care?

WAIT! One more thing: How 21 Jump Street did Johnny Depp look tonight???? Holy crap, dude looked 17.

Hang on! Check out a gallery from the show below ...

There are four things I will always love about MTV: the videos from the '80s, Daria, the first handful of seasons of The Real World, and the MTV Movie Awards spoofs. In many cases, those suckers stick in my mind more than the films they were spoofing -- especially 1999, when Alyson Hannigan, Jaime Pressly, Chris Owen, and Charlie O'Connell took on everything from Risky Business to Cruel Intentions. The sight of Hannigan reenacting the whipped cream scene from Varsity Blues is forever burned into my brain.

This year, however, things will be a bit different for the awards ceremony. The Hollywood Reporter posts that instead of spoofs, a number of big-name actors are making their own short films for the evening, with the creative control in their hands -- namely, Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Adam Sandler, and host Mike Myers. Not much is being said about the shorts, but Stiller hired Mike Bender to write his, and Nick Stoller to direct it, while Myers' shorts focus on two new characters he's come up with.

While I love the spoofs, this should be great twist on an old habit -- and as a rabid Downey Jr. fan, I'm itching to see what he comes up with. How about you? Will these shorts convince you to tune in?

Well, for a tempest in a teapot the controversy over Mike Myers' comedy The Love Guru seems to be heating up by the day. CJ Report confirmed that the British Film Institute has responded to Hindu protests, and has issued a statement that the prestigious institution will "not be screening this title nor will be involved with a possible release of it." Now this doesn't mean the film will not be shown in the UK, but the BFI's refusal to support the film must come as a blow to Myers, a committed anglophile.

Guru is the story of an American-born guru who returns home to help coach a lovelorn hockey player with a struggling marriage. Sure, it looks silly, and a little stereotypical, but so did The Party and a lot of people seem to like that movie. According to CJ Report, "Hindu groups have recently been approaching film distributors associations, exhibitors groups, regulatory bodies, government ministries, theater owners, etc., in various parts of the world urging them not to distribute/screen The Love Guru till Paramount Pictures makes necessary changes to it." Paramount still maintains that they will screen the film for Hindu audiences, but they have not agreed to make any significant changes to the film.