Sunday, August 15, 2010
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Sunday, August 15, 2010
MOVIE REVIEW
Eat Pray Love
Elizabeth X, In A Journey For
Self Where Zero Initially Marks The Spot
Julia Roberts as Elizabeth Gilbert in the new drama "Eat Pray Love".
Sony Pictures
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Sunday, August
15, 2010
Julia Roberts brings warmth and sophistication to "Eat Pray Love", making it
engaging for most of its lengthy running time, but with or without the talented
actress the drama is an exercise in cliché that fizzles to predictability.
In her early thirties Elizabeth Gilbert, married and trying for children, had a
mid-life revelation. She wanted more out of life. She wanted more
out of herself. The U.S. was not where she found all that made her content.
She journeyed to three "I" countries: Italy, India and Indonesia, for more fulfillment and
self-discovery. She wrote about her odyssey in a book, which was adapted to the
screen by Ryan Murphy and Jennifer Salt for the new film directed by Mr. Murphy, which opened
on Friday.
Ms. Roberts stars as Elizabeth Gilbert and is unafraid of stripping glamour from
her profile to play a character that doesn't shrink from new adventures.
As Ms. Gilbert Julia Roberts sublimates the typically upbeat, gung-ho gregarious
type in her portrayals to register a hesitant, more contemplative figure,
staring perhaps uneasily into the dawn of early middle-age. There aren't
enough moments like this however, for they are interrupted by stereotyped
figures, presumably fashioned for cheap comic relief or forced endearment.
(Note: We see several discreet shots of cleavage here but I don't think these
are exploitive, unlike shots of Jennifer Aniston's character in
"The Bounty Hunter" earlier this year.)
Having not completely read the book by Ms. Gilbert I am unsure of just how good a translation to the big screen
"Eat Pray Love" is. What is clear
however, is that the film lacks a strong screenplay, filling would-be compelling
episodes with independent or Hollywood actor gimmicky cameos that feel like chapter stops
or bookmarks that arrest the film or stop it in its tracks. Mr. Murphy's
direction of the film is uneasy; flashbacks or re-imaginings scatter the
landscape, sometimes unsettling the mood and pace of the story. "Eat Pray
Love" looks like a film we have seen many times before, and audiences will
likely come from it feeling that way.
I wish "Eat Pray Love" had given itself more time to breathe and contemplate,
rather than be the fast-food adventure festival it is. An actress of Ms.
Roberts' stature -- or any actor for that matter -- deserves better. Ms.
Roberts is great in films like "Closer", where we see a stark, refreshingly
honest character confronting and addressing real life in a relationship,
unsympathetic in the process. In this new film I was hoping to see a
character who had similar rough edges, one who would challenge as well as
inspire us. Ms. Roberts, for all the doubters, can pull this off, but the
film's script doesn't provide the space or depth she needs to do it.
With: Viola Davis, Richard Jenkins, James Franco,
Billy Crudup, Javier Bardem, Mike O'Malley, Gita Reddy.
"Eat Pray Love"
is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture
Association Of America on appeal for brief strong language, some sexual
references and male rear nudity. The film's
running time is two hours and 13 minutes.
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Unscripted review of "Eat Pray Love": (more
videos)
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