For SNL junkies, especially of the original cast of 1975, this movie might not meet the bar of classic SNL humor and social commentary. Even within the context of Myer’s more successful productions of “Wayne’s World” and “Wayne’s World 2”, “The Love Guru” leaves more to be desired. Myers’ hit roles in Austin Powers movies one and two did raise further expectations about the possibility that Myers could release hit after hit.

Time will tell, and box office income, whether “The Love Guru” makes the fan and revenue cut. Still, the die-hard SNL groupies will no doubt love this movie. It exhibits the bodacious, repulsive, iconoclastic, sophomoric, insulting, stereotyping, and illogicality that has made SNL so overwhelmingly successful not only in the USA, but also globally. If “Wayne’s World” popularized “schwing”, and “Austin Powers” popularized “Oh, behave”, it is not clear what phrase moviegoers will have echoing in their ears when they leave the theater.

Still a more fundamental question is the role of religion and humor in movies. For those not steeped in the weird world of SNL humor or who haven’t followed the scores of movies of ex-SNL cast, “The Love Guru” can possibly be insulting due to its often stereotypical representation of Hindu groups – their religion and culture. We can assume that Mike Myers did not go to Asia or even to American Hindu communities to prepare for this production. Such field work seeking truth probably would have, in a warped kind of way, stunted his creative abilities to stereotype Hinduism.

How does one judge “great humor or ridiculing religion”? First, we must take seriously those citizens who feel deeply abused. In this day and age of post-9/11/01 irrational, but dangerous, hysteria, most Americans see a brown skin person, particularly wearing a head covering or clothing they believe is “terrorist”, and they might think the individual has Bin Laden’s personal cell number. In the real world, being Indian and different in America matters.

Next we might want to see if the actor in the movie, Mike Myers, has only focused on Hinduism. Myers, for good or ill, has been an equal opportunity racial-ethnic-gender stereotyper throughout his career. Saturday Night Live is known for its quacky identity of specifically and intentionally doing the opposite of political correctness. In their acts, the cast has roasted and demolished Jesse Jackson, Hillary Clinton, former New York Governor Spitzer, and President Bush (41 and 43). They have done skits raising questions about gay and lesbian relations. When Clinton was president, they regularly had scenes depicting many sexual encounters. And SNL has portrayed and publicized some of the worst caricatures of the everyday black American. And black communities, along with many other Americas, have cracked their sides laughing.

The answer to the question “humor versus humiliation” is a difficult one. Maybe what needs to happen in this instance is a national dialogue on the beauty and gifts of the Hindu religion. Then we could take the opportunity to elevate one of the world’s great religions not only because of its incredible contributions to human history, but also because such a civil discussion would help American citizens to realize the growing multi-religious reality that America has come. Christianity is, more and more, just one religion among others.