MOVIE REVIEW: 'Eat Pray Love'

Movie review in today's Oregonian....

"Eat Pray Love" chronicles a journey of self-discovery, with an annoying over-emphasis on the word "self."

The film -- adapted from Elizabeth Gilbert's wildly popular, Oprah-endorsed memoir -- tells the story of a successful magazine writer (Julia Roberts) who has a sort of New Age mid-life crisis and throws money at the problem. She decides her carefully constructed New York lifestyle lacks passion -- "I've never taken a breather for myself!," as she puts it -- so she ditches her husband (Billy Crudup), immediately takes up with a cute actor (James Franco) and finally embarks on a year-long vacation to Italy, India and Bali to eat carbs, meditate and find "balance."

I'm not exactly sure where the author's profoundly first-world problems fall on Maslow's needs hierarchy -- but the movie suggests those problems can be solved by traveling the world in region-appropriate cute tops, looking meaningfully at picture-postcard vistas, and culling bits of wisdom from poorer or less-fortunate people; eventually, we're told, you'll "forgive yourself" for behaving horribly around the same time a ridiculously handsome entrepreneur (Javier Bardem) starts waiting in the wings until you're ready for him to sweep you off your feet.

I'm all for travel and self-awareness, and maybe Gilbert's book captures the psychological nuances better than the film did -- but by now it's probably obvious that I'm allergic to a certain sort of privileged person who confuses passion with emotion and expensive self-indulgence with the search for truth.

To be fair, the movie, directed by Ryan Murphy ("Glee," "Nip/Tuck"), is lovely to look at and very well-acted. This may be enough for the movie's huge target audience, which is reportedly so in the bag for this book that they've overwhelmed Bali with tourism. Richard Jenkins is great as the Texan who needles Roberts about her spritual growth in India, and Bardem lends an offbeat romantic energy to the final act.

But personally, I can't get past the movie version of Elizabeth Gilbert, who mostly doesn't do anything for anyone else during her journey (beyond asking some friends to write checks for one woman toward the end of the film). I practically cheered whenever a supporting character told her off -- especially Crudup's character during a divorce negotiation meeting -- and lamented that her journey to inner peace so seldom focused outward. "Eat Pray Love" is magazine-spread self-help bullcorn with the highest possible production values, and I wasn't having any of it.

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(133 min., rated PG-13) Grade: C-minus

'Eat Pray Love' (The Oregonian, Friday, Aug. 13, 2010)

Comments

[Dean]

Haven't seen this movie yet, but the trailer is enough to convince me it's a bag of idiot.

[watch movies]

Hi I read the book It was fantastic! The part of the food made me feel hungry all the time! but that was nothing compare to the last part... I really like Julia Roberts so even if the movie isn't perfect I for sure watch it !

[Michelle Pendlelton]

This flick is very heart-warming for me. I have to say that Julia Roberts did a great job in portraying her role. Unlike other flicks, Eat, Pray, Love has a simple synopsis. But it has a great impact on viewers. The musical scoring of the film sets the perfect mood for the scenes. I guess the movie is just as good as the book.