Film Reviews

The Guru

• Rating:
• Director: Daisy von Scherler Mayer
• Starring: Christine Baranski
• Details: UK and US / 98 minutes / (15PG).

Very slight romantic comedy, which follows Rammy (Mistry) a Bombay dance teacher who moves to New York. Soon after his arrival, he ends up auditioning for a porn movie with Sharonna (Graham). Although things don't go too well, an unlikely series of events leads Rammy to be proclaimed as a new age sex guru by a group of Manhattan socialites. Realising that Sharonna - unbeknownst to her - played a significant part in his new career, Rammy asks her for advice. Under the misconception that he's trying to prep himself for a career in porn, she decides to help. But Rammy has his heart set on taking this guru ruse as far as he can.
Extremely uneven and rather peculiar, The Guru is not a particularly great comedy. The posters may boldly proclaim that is from the makers of Bridget Jones's Diary and About A Boy, but that's where the comparisons end. While those two movies had rounded characters, involving plots and healthy doses of cynicism, The Guru seems bent on oddness for the sake of it. Occasionally it succeeds - there are a few unconventional sequences which work well - but for the most part, The Guru seems to be a film built around half an idea.

Review by Garreth Murphy