Summer movies linger on (From Western Telegraph)

Summer movies linger on

The Guru Directed by Daisy von Scherler Meyer Starring Heather Graham, Jimi Mistry, Marisa Tomei, Christine Baranski. Cert. 15 Dur. 94 mins

The summer is doing its damnedest to linger on a while between floods, and the summer offerings at the cinema are doing the same. There have been the odd hotspots. Minority Report was the hottest for me but Spider-Man was by far the most successful (its already taken more than $400 million). There has also been an awful lot of damp squiberry with more hype less content movies appearing in their droves.

I think, for many of us this summer, weve had one eye on the Christmas release of the next Lord Of The Rings movie (and its winter competition), which just goes to show what monumental movie events the Tolkein adaptations have already become.

But the summer isnt dead yet! Back to lazy, hazy August, and a couple of interesting films that have less in common with each other than Prince Charles and Vinnie Jones.

First, The Guru, which is the latest offering from Working Title. Working Title is Britains best and most successful film company, the closest thing we have to a studio, and much praise must go to Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, company bosses/producers, who have done much to try to create a commercial British film industry, though they should never be completely forgiven for allowing Captain Corellis Mandolin to reach the public eye. The Guru though is much closer to the kind of thing they do best (like Notting Hill).

Directed by Daisy von Sherler Meyer, who sounds like an Austin Powers character, The Guru tells the sweet and uplifting story of Ramu (Jimi Mistry), an Asian actor who turns up in New York and dreams of becoming a movie star. His first part, however, is not on the same road to stardom that many of the modern movie greats have dared tread. He agrees to appear in a porn film, but when the time comes he fails to do whats necessary in front of camera. His heart just isnt in it.

This leaves him in need of a new plan if he is to follow his dreams of fame and fortune. So Ramu decides to reinvent himself. With the help and instruction of his friend, porn queen with a heart, Sharonna (Heather Graham), Ramu becomes a sex guru to the uptight socialites of New York.

The Guru is pretty gentle and frothy comedy with great performances from all, but chiefly from Mistry, who manages to pull off an engaging naivety, Graham, who looks easily strange enough to have ended up in the porn industry, and from the brilliant Marisa Tomei, at full steam as a rich girl with an unshakeable belief in Mistrys ability to lead her to spiritual enlightenment.

It may seem that the presence of this film, or rather of the Asian actors within it, is just part of the current interest in Bollywood, but it wouldnt be fair to write off The Guru as just a silly film jumping on a bandwagon. Mistrys ethnicity is what makes the story credible and the Bollywood version of the Grease number, Youre The One That I Want is just an added bonus.

So if you need some light relief thats cleverer than Austin Powers while being miles short of satire then I recommend you make an appointment with The Guru.

Also released is Reign of Fire (12) and, as I said before, its release date is about the only think it shares with The Guru.

Reign of Fire, from Rob Bowman, is an action-sci-fi adventure starring Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey. Early reports are that its not as exciting as it should have been. Its near-future but the earth is under attack from ferocious dragons. Yes, you read that correctly - dragons. The dragon attacks have left the earth in a post apocalyptic mess and so our hero Christian Bale must lead a small band of survivors into the wastelands that were once our own green and pleasant land.

Im excited because its such a bizarre idea, and unusual to have such a high concept, high budget, movie, set in this country. Apparently though, the budget just didnt stretch far enough to deliver this man versus dragon warfare in the way that the hype promises. What we get is a half decent Mad-Max, Water World effort.

It strikes me that if The Guru had been set in London, with adjustments for the Crazy Americans will buy anything angle, it would do almost as well if not better. And if Reign of Fire had been set in New York, it would have cost the earth, but we would have seen the earth being ravaged by dragons properly.

Im going to see it for myself though and so should you.

VAUGHAN SIVELL