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The Guru

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The Guru (2003)

58%
60%
44%
N/A
N/A
N/A
58 %
Reviews Counted: 86 Fresh: 50  Rotten:36 Average Rating: 5.8/10
 
Consensus: A sweetly silly but wafer-thin romantic comedy.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins

Theatrical Release: Jan 31, 2003 Limited

Box Office: $2,867,996

Synopsis: Only a guru could have predicted the fate awaiting Ramu Gupta (Jimi Mistry), a young Indian dance teacher with the best moves in Delhi. Mesmerized by a friend's promise of a New York penthouse and a red Mercedes, India's Tony Manero gives up the comforts of home to become a star in America. But the... Only a guru could have predicted the fate awaiting Ramu Gupta (Jimi Mistry), a young Indian dance teacher with the best moves in Delhi. Mesmerized by a friend's promise of a New York penthouse and a red Mercedes, India's Tony Manero gives up the comforts of home to become a star in America. But the road to fame in New York is no magic carpet ride and Ramu winds up in a crowded Queens walk-up apartment, waiting tables at an Indian restaurant and scrambling for any audition that comes along.

Still, good fortune can arise from strange places as Ramu discovers when a catering gig at a ditzy socialite's (Marisa Tomei) birthday party catapults him into an extravagant version of the American dream. Mistaken for a spiritual healer, Ramu becomes an overnight celebrity with the city's elite hanging onto his every word - no matter how absurd. The trouble is, he's also falling in love with the one woman (Heather Graham) who knows the real source of his seemingly profound insights and Ramu must choose between his newfound notoriety and his love for a woman who accepts him as he is.

Bollywood meets Hollywood in The Guru, an exuberantly comic tale of culture clash from Universal Pictures and Working Title Films. The Guru stars Heather Graham (From Hell), Marisa Tomei (In the Bedroom), Jimi Mistry (East is East), Christine Baranski (Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas) and Michael McKean (Best in Show), as well as Dash Mihok (The Perfect Storm) and Malachy McCourt (Green Card). [More]

Genre: Comedies

Starring: Heather Graham, Marisa Tomei, Jimi Mistry, Christine Baranski, Michael McKean

Director: Daisy Von Scherler Mayer
Screenwriter: Tracey Jackson
Producer: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Michael London
Composer: David Carbonara

DVD Info

Release:

Sep 2, 2003

[DVD Details]

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Ratings Image
4/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

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Full Review | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Time Out
Ratings Image
2.5/5

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2/4

Not only a tepid Bollywood imitation, but a tepid film, period.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/08/05
Michael Dequina
Mr. Brown's Movies
Ratings Image
2/5

Belos figurinos, boas seqüências musicais (embora em número insuficiente para servir como referência a Bollywood) e Marisa Tomei de lingerie - estes são os pontos fortes do filme. Os pontos fracos? Todo o resto.

comment Comment
10/13/03
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
Ratings Image
D

This American version of a Bollywood musical is one of the worst films I have run across in the last few years.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/31/03
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ratings Image
N/A

. . .a noble effort to bring the thrills of Bollywood to America, but this magic carpet never quite gets off the ground because it traffics in too many cinematic clichés. . .

Full Review | comment Comment
06/10/03
Todd Gilchrist
FilmStew.com
Ratings Image
3/5

A film whose good heart and musical numbers are much bigger than its shortcomings.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/08/03
Harry Guerin
RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)
Ratings Image
4/5

mixes the exuberance of Bollywood with measured lunacy of 30s screwball comedies and adds just a dash of “The Joy of Sex”

Full Review | comment Comment
04/05/03
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews
Ratings Image
2/5

Too timid for its own good, relying too often on bawdy gags, easy clichés and hoary stereotypes.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/25/03
Jason Anderson
eye WEEKLY
N/R

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Full Review | comment Comment
03/21/03
Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2/5

There's not a whole lot of heft to von Scherler Mayer's romantic comedy with ethnic Indian entanglements; it's like overdone naan, too flaky and ephemeral for its own good, but still somehow appetizing.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/10/03
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle
N/R

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Full Review | comment Comment
03/06/03
Orlando Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2/5

... those modest virtues can't prevail against the coarse jokes and shabby ethnic stereotypes of Tracey Jackson's disjointed script, Daisy von Scherler Mayer's unsteady direction, or the unflattering cinematography.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/04/03
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review
Ratings Image
0.5/4

...a clunky, idiotic, laughless and amateurish collection of scenes targeted to people who have the intellect of mattress springs.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/28/03
David Keyes
Cinemaphile.org
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3/4

It's good fun -- almost a musical.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/28/03
Joe Baltake
Sacramento Bee
Ratings Image
4/10

Although the film is loaded with potential and many satirical targets, the execution of the material leaves a lot to be desired.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/20/03
Jim Judy
Screen It!
Ratings Image
B-

"The Guru" is a light and frothy concoction that is a tasty little treat with its heart in the right place.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/19/03
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews
Ratings Image
B-

a gentle comedy of colliding cultures

Full Review | comment Comment
02/16/03
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews
Ratings Image
1/4

Devoid of life, intelligence, humor, and anything else that could entertain even the most undemanding viewer, this film is a perfect example of something that should have been shipped to landfills, not multiplexes.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/16/03
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
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