I don’t know what happened to Mike Myers. The man is clearly talented beyond comprehension, has done some amazing work in his relatively short career (by that I mean he’s not 60 years old) and he’s given us some of the very best comedy and characters of our generation.
But then Myers decided to just disappear for all intents and purposes. Just over 10 years ago Myers launched Austin Powers, and then Shrek… and those two entities have basically sucked all the life out of him. Where did one of the best Saturday Night Live performers of all time go? Where did the guy who gave us “So I Married An Axe Murderer” vanish to?
I have a feeling that his little adventure as “The Cat In The Hat” about 5 years ago really hurt him. I know he was hoping for and expecting big things from that flick. The movie ended up losing money and got totally destroyed by critics and fans alike… word out there was that while he put on a brave face… it really hurt him. It was his first true failure.
Maybe that’s what made him fall back to his old formula. Maybe that’s what made him retreat back into the safe comfy Shrek realm? And maybe that’s why, when he was doing another new comedy (The Love Guru), it really just ended up being a slightly difference version of another comfy place for him… Austin Powers (Really… that’s what The Love Guru was).
The problem however, is that once you start going back to the well too many times… once you abandon your creativity and just rely on the formula you’ve created… you get stale. And The Love Guru was more than just stale, it was plain putrid. And worse than any other Myers movie in history… IT BOMBED. Less than $15 million opening weekend, with pretty much everyone hating it. OUCH!
Now consider this: Recently it was confirmed that Myers was developing yet another Austin Powers movie. Word was there was already a script and things were moving forward. Some people celebrated this news (After all, the first three were all pretty entertaining for the most part), while others thought it was a bad idea. Well… it looks like we won’t have to worry about it anymore, because with The Love Guru, a film so much like and in the same formula as Austin Powers, bombing so hard and failing so spectacularly…. I just can’t see any studio being willing to put up $100 million to produce it… and I also just don’t see how a lot of film goers are going to be willing to see it after The Love Guru.
So the question is: If the Mike Myers “Austin Powers” formula and schtick are now dried up… where does Myers go from here? Is he washed up? Are we indeed seeing the start of his downfall?
To me the answer hinges on what Myers does next. If he continues to try to beat the dead horse, then yes… he’s finished. But if he branches out again, takes some risks and gets away from the Powers formula, then I see no reason why he can’t return to glory.
I’ll be very interested to see how “See Me Feel Me: Keith Moon Naked for Your Pleasure” turns out. Mike Myers is playing the one time drummer for The Who and it could be spectacular if done right. Time will tell… for now we’ll wait and see how Myers handles this latest failure.
