Bayside resident Mark Metcalf is an actor who has worked in movies, TV and on the stage. He is best known for his work in "Animal House," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Seinfeld."

In addition to his work on screen, Metcalf is involved with the Milwaukee International Film Festival, First Stage Children's Theater and a number of other projects, including the comedy Web site, comicwonder.com.

He also finds time to write about movies for OnMilwaukee.com. In this week's installment of the Screening Room, Mark looks at "The Love Guru" and "Speed Racer."

THE LOVE GURU (2008)

Mike Myers.

What would you expect?

Penis jokes. Scrotum jokes. Rectum jokes. Gaseous emissions jokes. Erections that are inhibited and ones that are not.

Freud would have a field day.

I'm trying to use scientific language here; I'm not sure how much is permitted in this medium. And, I may actually be becoming a bit of a prude, which is part of the price of having a 14-year-old son.

Everything is seemingly permitted in films. They use much more explicit language and they use it over and over again and it's rated PG-13. Then the whole experience of "The Love Guru" is a real regression to infantile behavior.

And, lo and behold, the theme of the whole thing is that regression to infantile behavior is a good thing, it will set you free. That's what the Love Guru, Mike Myer's character, is selling.

If Mike Myers ever listened to his critics, and I would be surprised if he did, this film would be a finger in their eye.

I don't remember if he plays with feces, but I think he talks about doing so.

The whole movie is kind of a pile of feces.

I guess Austin Powers can do anything he wants to do. Someone once wrote about a movie that I did, "One Crazy Summer," that "Animal House" had begun the craze of this kind of movie and, hopefully, "One Crazy Summer" would end it. I felt proud to be at either end of a craze. Obviously I was not at the end. I am tempted to write the same kind of sentence about Mike Myers but I doubt that it will be any truer about "Guru" than it was about "Summer."

As much as I didn't like it when Robin Williams decided to make serious movies, and I don't think it is a good idea for comedians to try serious acting, usually, I would almost like to see Myers attempt something without constant references to bodily functions and fluids. I am turning prudish in my antiquity.

Nevertheless, it isn't really prude-ism. I enjoy a good flatulence joke as much as anyone, and sexual references, jokes and innuendos, aren't usually lost on me. But, I do like them accompanied by a little wit, some intelligence, and not so much repetition. When Julius wants to drive me crazy, he sings the same song over and over and over and over again. It works. It becomes very annoying. Mike Myers has become very, very, very, very, very annoying.

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