In this corner: an incompetent superspy wielding a shoe phone! In the other corner: a happy-go-lucky guru who wants to save your love life! On June 20, Steve Carell’s latest broad comedy, Get Smart, will bow in at least 3,000 theaters against Mike Myers’ latest broad comedy, The Love Guru, which bows… in at least 3,000 theaters. It’s a dicey move in today’s opening weekend’s everything atmosphere and words like dumb, insane, and reckless are being thrown around Hollywood to describe the face-off. At one time, it was common to unveil two similar movies on the same day. But after George Clooney’s The Perfect Storm walloped Mel Gibson’s The Patriot in 2000, “it [became] the unofficial rule that such showdowns had to be avoided at at costs,” says one studio distribution exec. “Until now.” In February 2007, Paramount (Guru) and Warner Bros. (Get Smart) opted to open their big summer comedies on June 20, 2008, unbeknownst to each other. They had almost a year and a half to rethink the date, but neither has budged. Warner Bros. isn’t commenting but Paramount distribution president Jim Tharp defends the decision to stay put: “Look at the summer and how crowded it is; it’s difficult to find a place to go.”
True enough. Close to half of this season’s wide releases are comedies, and these two films are sandwiched between the openings of The Incredible Hulk and Pixar’s WALL*E. But industry wags speculate that the situation is more complex. “It almost becomes personal if Mike Myers moves for Steve Carell — or vice versa.” May the best ham win.
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my prediction..they both flop..neither one looks good…indians jones stays #1
I have seen this coming for months and had hoped that one of them would budge because it is the most ridiculous thing to do — they are harming potential franchises by going head to head. They are afraid of Wall E. One of them should move to the next week — so people will have more choices besides Hancock come july 4th. I am really excited about Get Smart and think Steve Carell will be hilarious in the role. Love Mike Myers and have learned never to underestimate him. So i’m annoyed that they are going head to head. Someone should GET SMART and move. It will only hurt both of them.
I doubt GET SMART or THE LOVE GURU will top WALL-E’s second weekend but since GET SMART looks vastly better than THE LOVE GURU, i expect that film to make more money. THE LOVE GURU just looks plain awful.
I agree with Reub, Love Guru looks horrible…you couldn’t pay me to see that in the theater. Get Smart I’ll probably see if critics are kind to it.
If the reviews for Love Guru are as bad as it looks, then it wouldn’t shock me to see that finish a distant third behind Get Smart and the 2nd weekend of the Hulk. Of course, Wall-E destroys all comers the following week.
Both movies look pretty rough, but I think that’s just the previews showing the “wacky” parts. I want to see Vern Troyer sliding across the ice as much as I want to see Carrell shoot himself in the foot. Stupid people will go see Get Smart because Steve Carrell is a lot more popular right now. People forget that Mike Myers is extremely smart and a great comedy writer/performer. As bad as the trailer looks, I’m pulling for the Love Guru. Mainly because Get Smart is another terrible big budget remake of an old tv show and the Love Guru is the brain child of one very smart comedian.
They both look terrible, so they can open them whenever they like. I have no plans to see either.
I think the love guru actually looks pretty good. I have zero desire to see get smart – way before my time.
Aaron, it’s funny that you say stupid people will see “Get Smart” because Carrell is popular. He’s a comedic genius, on a level beyond Myers. Carrell is on the most sophisticated comedy on television and did biting satire on “The Daily Show”. Carrell is the thinking man’s comedian. There is no doubt Myers is talented but he’s gone for slapstick nonsense over the past few years. A “comedy” with Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake doesn’t make the work of a comedian genius, it’s more like a tragic nightmare.
only if you paid me a million dollars would i sit thru ‘love guru’. i’m vastly afraid of seeing ‘get smart’ too cause it was a fav growing up & i’m sick of seeing my fav’s grossly butchered. that said i might take a peek when it’s out on dvd. no way i’m plunking down that much cash on a movie i’ll possibly hate.
George, I agree that Carrell is very funny, but the two are like apples and oranges. Also, it’s silly to think that just because Carrell is in a movie that it’s going to be the same quality of humor as The Daily Show. eg. Evan Almighty. Mike Myers might not be as subtle, but he’s created some of pop culture’s most memorable characters. It takes some brains to create something out of nothing that has such an effect on so many people. I’d rather see a movie written by Myers than whoever they got to pump out the Get Smart script in a week.
Mike Myers hasn’t made a funny movie this century. The last truly funny film he was involved in was the 2nd Austin Powers. All 3 of the Shrek films were hurt significantly by his inane insistence on doing that ridiculous “Scottish” accent, and the 3rd Austin Powers was mediocre at best. The Love Guru will likely be similar to Cat in the Hat – Myers in horrible makeup, with a terrible script, and an unwatchable film.
Oh, and Aaron, outside of the Austin Powers universe, what memorable characters did he create? Wayne Campbell? Really? Certainly couldn’t have anything to do with Shrek, as he didn’t do anything except provide a lousy voice.
Easy there, Robert. It’s just my opinion. Every single character in the Austin Powers movies was created by Mike Myers. Also, he didn’t write the Cat In The Hat or the Shrek movies. That’s why they’re not as good. When it comes to comedy, writing is pretty important. If Get Smart is bad it will be for the same reason that the Cat In The Hat was bad. Some studio tried to make money on someone else’s creation by pumping out a script that doesn’t resemble the original at all and hiring the popular comedic flavor of the week. I’ve been burned too many times. Oh and, Waynes World was pretty POPular (hence the term “pop culture”), so yeah…Wayne and Garth too.
they both look icky, but I will consider seeing Get Smart, while I would never ever ever consider seeing Love Guru…or Mess with Zohan either…what crap these dudes are spewing in our cinemas this summer!!!!
i think that hulk will be on top of all *hulk smash* because of the incredible entrance of tony stark (iron man) and will trump all movies even in its third weekend. what happened to mr.blue?? email me at shadowmath2000@yahoo.com
Remakes and similar type movies are often a disappointment to people who have seen the originals. The latest I saw was Get Smart which was not funny on its own, and certainly not as funny as Don Adams in the role. There was a preview b4 this movie of Pink Panther 2 with Steve Martin. I like both Carrel and Martin in other works, but Martin can’t possibly do a Clouseau like Peter Sellers did. Another disaster was to try and redo Gene Wilder’s Wonka with Jonny Depp. All the Bond and Batman actors have been good though. I think that when a movie is centered upon a iconic CHARACTER rather than the STORY, it is best that the movie end with the original actor.