Eat, Pray, Love

[Preston1990]

Supposedly an inspirational film about a journey of self discovery. I saw this today at my "local" Cineworld (a 40 mile round trip). I felt like I'd been on quite a journey myself!

The film is not called "Eat, Pray, Love" for nothing.

"Eat" before you go to see it, as otherwise you will be absolutely ravenous whilst the cast munch their way through some delicious looking culinary delights from Italy.

"Pray" that you don't fall asleep during the screening - I felt myself going a couple of times during the lengthy (2hr 15mins) performance.

"Love" seeing all the fantastic sights of NYC, Italy, India and Bali, in a sort of "sit yourself down for a couple of hours whilst we whisk you around the world in a mini travelogue"y kind of way.

I was expecting great things from this film, some of which were delivered and some of which weren't. The main downside for me was that the film story was overlong, dull, uninspired and far from credible (in the way in which self-centred Liz quickly and easily made new and deep relationships in all the new locations). Also, JR seemed to have aged quite a bit compared to how I still was imagining her - though she'd probably say the same about me .

I did enjoy it from a purely visual perspective though.

A rather disappointingly on the whole 6.5 out of 10.

[Beate]

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/rev ... FID=136948

[Preston1990]

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the guy who Liz took up with in Bali reminded me so much of Dev out of Coronation Street that I embarked on a boredom induced in-movie daydream about them serving all the regulars in the corner shop together.

[andrews]

This film had the potential to be so much more, and I found it rather disappointing to say the least. Above all, I was expecting to see some stunning scenery, panoramic shots of the Indian and Balinese countryside, but sadly I felt that these scenes could have been shot anywhere in the world really. There was a lot of stereotyping - Italian boys ogling girls - why not? and poor street children begging in the streets - did I need to see that? No.

Julia Roberts gave a fairly good performance - I wish I could smile like that - but her character was so selfish, self-absorbed and conceited, that I did not warm to her at all, and to be frank, I couldn't give a hoot whether she found enlightenment/happiness/peace of mind. She did not seem to take any responsibility for any of her own relationship problems, and we are led to believe that the chap was always at fault.

I loved the Balinese Medicine man - a warm friendly character, played by Hadi Subiyanto. The screen seemed to be more alive when he was on it.

I am seriously getting fed up with Javier Bardem, a handsome chap with gorgeous twinking eyes, but does he have to mumble every sentence he has? I really struggled to follow any conversation he was having.

As for the positive - the scenes set in Italy were wonderful - the shots of Rome and Tuscany, the family meal - fabulous.
Julia Roberts' performance is good and there's strong support from most of the cast - James Franco, Richard Jenkins, and Viola Davis.

The main question I have is - has Julia Roberts done enough to raise her profile in Hollywood once again? Box Office receipts will soon tell us.

A generous 7/10 from me.

[cheekyweelassie]

I decided to (gasp) p*y to go and see this today to make the most of a rainy day off work. I'd read the book a couple of years ago and was interested to see how the narrator's inner monologue could be translated to film.
I think Julia Roberts was very good. Her face conveyed lots of emotions, and unile some other FMUKers I did feel sympathy for her. However, I also felt sorry for the husband and the boyfriend, as they seemed like nice chaps who didn't deserve getting dumped.
I wish I'd seen Julia Roberts actually gain a few pounds as I wasn't convinced she has ever had a 'muffin top' in her life.
It was such a horrible day outside that I loved viewing warm, bright and sunny places. I could have easily enjoyed more landscape and travelogue images.
Like others here I thought the film was too long and ultimately the search was the usual one for true love. But hey, good luck to her.
7/10 from me

[alythonian]

I decided to go and see this last night at the late showing as that was the last showing and despite the generally naff reviews I really had fancied watching it.

I can see where people were coming from, it's overlong and my main problem with it was that I didn't find Liz a likeable charachter and I really couldn't fully empathise with her on her life's journey. I think a good slap (not necessarily a physical one!!!) along the way might have helped more!

The scenery and settings were beautiful although I'd have liked to have seen more of India in the same way we saw Rome and Bali although I appreciate that would not have been a true reflection on her experience but sometimes film adaptations of books can be better as they take liberties with the story that work on film and maybe here not such a literal interpretation and true story version of the book would have made a better film.

6.5/10 as it was engaging to an extent.

[Cortone]

After all my gushing about how I wanted to see this, I have been silent on this. I went on my Direct Holidays free Odeon ticket, on just about the last possible day (the end of September), and was stressed beyond belief at the time. Thought this would be the perfect way to chill...

Well, it was a real disappointment in some ways. Personally, I am no more likely to walk out on Billy Crudup or James Franco than I am to walk out on Robert Downey Jr or Johnny Depp. So, that did not create any empathy for Julia Roberts... However, as Preston says, it was great to see the sights at the different cities, but ... it just felt empty, which was not the real purpose.

Rome and food - well there are loads of films about Rome which are more memorable, and for all their talk about food, I was not salivating by what was on offer. The Indian part really left me cold, and normally I am such a fan of Richard Jenkins (he was brilliant in the Visitor), but his character did not ring true to me. Bali looked just wonderful, and had I won the lottery, I would have been off there like a shot, but Javier Bardem ???? All I could think of was No Country for Old Men!

It was OK for free, but there were many that were commenting that it was "rubbish" or "not up to much" on the way out. And bitchier comments about Julia Roberts. (BTW - she says she put on 7-10 lbs in Rome... but I guess she was filming there for a while!)