Julia Roberts, you look so adorable on the cover of your movie Eat Pray Love. You are savoring what I can only imagine is the most delicious vanilla ice cream with that little blue spoon. I would like to believe that you're enjoying that last bite and contemplating wanting to go get more. Alas, this is not what Eat Pray Love is about and that plastic blue spoon is only a prop trying to help promote this movie into something more desirable than what it is.
Eat Pray Love is about a writer, Liz Gilbert, who is dissatisfied with her life. She says that she feels empty; she no longer has an appetite for life. She finds an old drawing that a Balinese prophet, Ketut, gave to her many years ago. He had told her that she would be married twice, one short and one long. She would lose all her money but not to worry, she would get it back. She would also return to Bali to learn his secrets and help him with his English. Remembering the fondness of her time in Bali, what does she decide to do? Well, she feels the need to break the current cycle of her life. She ends her marriage to Stephen (Billy Crudup) and falls for a struggling actor David (James Franco). He introduces her to his beliefs of a guru from India. Maybe the age difference is the reason or maybe it's because Liz still feels unfulfilled, either way the relationship soon falls to pieces. So Liz convinces her boss to fund a yearlong excursion to travel to Rome, India, and Bali in hopes of finding herself and maybe writing a book from it.
First, she goes to Italy for three months to take pleasure in the scrumptious food, and to drink the delicious wine that the country has to offer. She befriends a Norwegian girl and her Italian tutor. They show her around and introduce her to the Italian way of life - relaxing. Just when you would think that Liz has found happiness with her new friends, her new understanding of the language, and the pleasure of not feeling guilty for having to wear some bigger jeans from all the eating, she is off to India.
In India, she longs to meet David's guru only to discover that she had gone to New York. Liz doesn't let that deter her from finding spiritual enlightenment. While working at a sort of commune, she meets a Texan named Richard. He too is looking for some sort of freedom from his past. He gives Liz a hard time, nicknaming her "Groceries" due to all the food she eats. He seems to keep pushing her to clear her mind of all the noise that's inside her head. Near the end of his stay, Richard reveals what brought him to Bali, in a very touching and emotional story.
Then soon after Richard's departure, Liz is off to her next destination, Bali. She meets up with Ketut but doesn't seem to progress with her promise. While bicycling one afternoon she is struck by a vehicle. She survives, and is well enough to go out partying that night. While at a bar, Felipe (Javier Bardem) the man that collided his jeep with her bike, spots her. He seems mesmerized by Liz and shows up the next morning in her open-air cabin, inviting her to get a coffee. a new love emerges and they spend every moment together. As they say, "All good things must come to an end," and Liz has a plane to catch back to the states. Felipe tries to convince her to stay with him. She has to make a decision. Does she return to her life in New York or stay in Bali with Felipe? Does she even care for Felipe? She finally feels free; does she really want to settle back down again?
Honestly, at this point I didn't care what she chose to do or how she felt. Of course, staying with Felipe in a beautiful foreign country sounds wonderful. She could easily go back home and write her book. There is not a real longing attachment to Liz's character. You might understand why she feels the way she does, or sympathize why she left her husband, or be jealous of her ability to be able to take a year off of work "to find herself," but she just seems kind of bland. There are some cute moments in the film, and as said before Richard has a touching story. The film is mediocre and the storyline isn't worthwhile either. Would I watch the film again? Unless I was at home, with nothing to do and it was on basic television, I might consider watching it. Even then it wouldn't have my full attention. I would find something else to occupy my time and just use it as background noise.
Eat Pray Love is about a writer, Liz Gilbert, who is dissatisfied with her life. She says that she feels empty; she no longer has an appetite for life. She finds an old drawing that a Balinese prophet, Ketut, gave to her many years ago. He had told her that she would be married twice, one short and one long. She would lose all her money but not to worry, she would get it back. She would also return to Bali to learn his secrets and help him with his English. Remembering the fondness of her time in Bali, what does she decide to do? Well, she feels the need to break the current cycle of her life. She ends her marriage to Stephen (Billy Crudup) and falls for a struggling actor David (James Franco). He introduces her to his beliefs of a guru from India. Maybe the age difference is the reason or maybe it's because Liz still feels unfulfilled, either way the relationship soon falls to pieces. So Liz convinces her boss to fund a yearlong excursion to travel to Rome, India, and Bali in hopes of finding herself and maybe writing a book from it.
First, she goes to Italy for three months to take pleasure in the scrumptious food, and to drink the delicious wine that the country has to offer. She befriends a Norwegian girl and her Italian tutor. They show her around and introduce her to the Italian way of life - relaxing. Just when you would think that Liz has found happiness with her new friends, her new understanding of the language, and the pleasure of not feeling guilty for having to wear some bigger jeans from all the eating, she is off to India.
In India, she longs to meet David's guru only to discover that she had gone to New York. Liz doesn't let that deter her from finding spiritual enlightenment. While working at a sort of commune, she meets a Texan named Richard. He too is looking for some sort of freedom from his past. He gives Liz a hard time, nicknaming her "Groceries" due to all the food she eats. He seems to keep pushing her to clear her mind of all the noise that's inside her head. Near the end of his stay, Richard reveals what brought him to Bali, in a very touching and emotional story.
Then soon after Richard's departure, Liz is off to her next destination, Bali. She meets up with Ketut but doesn't seem to progress with her promise. While bicycling one afternoon she is struck by a vehicle. She survives, and is well enough to go out partying that night. While at a bar, Felipe (Javier Bardem) the man that collided his jeep with her bike, spots her. He seems mesmerized by Liz and shows up the next morning in her open-air cabin, inviting her to get a coffee. a new love emerges and they spend every moment together. As they say, "All good things must come to an end," and Liz has a plane to catch back to the states. Felipe tries to convince her to stay with him. She has to make a decision. Does she return to her life in New York or stay in Bali with Felipe? Does she even care for Felipe? She finally feels free; does she really want to settle back down again?
Honestly, at this point I didn't care what she chose to do or how she felt. Of course, staying with Felipe in a beautiful foreign country sounds wonderful. She could easily go back home and write her book. There is not a real longing attachment to Liz's character. You might understand why she feels the way she does, or sympathize why she left her husband, or be jealous of her ability to be able to take a year off of work "to find herself," but she just seems kind of bland. There are some cute moments in the film, and as said before Richard has a touching story. The film is mediocre and the storyline isn't worthwhile either. Would I watch the film again? Unless I was at home, with nothing to do and it was on basic television, I might consider watching it. Even then it wouldn't have my full attention. I would find something else to occupy my time and just use it as background noise.
No comments:
Post a Comment