I think I deserve something beautiful.
— Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)

 

I really wasn’t going to review the awful film Eat Pray Love (dir. Ryan Murphy). I didn’t want to re-visit a big waste of time. Maybe I can spare one person a bad experience, though. I know that I’m going against the grain – people love Julia Roberts and love the book it’s based on – so I apologize in advance; I thought the film sucked.

 

While trying to get pregnant, a happily married woman realizes her life needs to take a different direction, and after a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world journey. Based on the memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert (IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0879870/) or blah, blah, blah.

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My friend asked if this film is New Age or Hindu. I said neither. Casting a big Hollywood star like Roberts reeks of the materialism rejected by each area. It’s very good to bring Hindu ideals to the masses but I see Mary-Louise Parker in the role actually. A HUGE Hollywood movie star is like ‘buy me ’or buy Hinduism. The slickness…

 

“The book is a good introduction to Hinduism because it gives a feel for what day-to-day life might be like for a (Western) Hindu, a religion I find quite hard to fathom given its huge age, diversity, and – to be honest – weirdness.” The film wasn’t even weird, just boring.

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A few people I know could not stand the film and were happy that my perspective seemed to validate their own. I have never encountered such a hush-up tone in a film, and that itself makes me want to scream—loud.

 

 A psychologist was interviewed about the film on the radio. She said that it’s hard to translate introspection and navel-gazing to the big screen. I disagree, except for this film. I mean, look at 'My Own Private Idaho' (Van Sant). She also said that Gilbert (the main character) always had a man in her life, which continues via teachers, etc. Sure, her guru is female, but she is absent—she is an absent presence. The same song, only in Sanskrit.

 

The film yanked at my travel bug. However, I wanted to jump off this bus and eat exquisite food. The important representation of food could have been more lush. I am reminded of the wonderful aesthetic of Sofia Coppola's 'Marie Antoinette.' Let them eat cake, indeed.

 

I was going to leave the theatre midway through the film. I absolutely did not care about Julia Roberts’ character, who was not written well at all. She was unsympathetic and flat. Javier Bardem was the only eye candy that made this film bearable for me.

 

One review says, “So let’s break this down, shall we? Love stories are much more tangible when they have substance: fewer reaction shots, more substance. There was enough to work with here to make this a solid film, but ultimately, Eat Pray Love falls victim to its own storyline and ends up another silly love story rather than a credible piece of filmmaking.” (Smells Like Screen Spirit) Yup.

 

The film Eat Pray Love was poorly made. It had a bad script, direction, editing, and cinematography. The film was hollow—the worst this year. Blech.

 

 

Romy Shiller is a pop culture critic with a PhD from the University of Toronto. Her academic areas of concentration include film, gender performance, camp, and critical thought. She lives in Montreal, where she continues her writing. All her books are available online.

 

 

© 2010 by Romy  Shiller. All rights reserved.