Eat Pray Love (2010)

After a divorce, Liz (Julia Roberts) travels the world to find herself. With stops in Italy, India and Bali, Liz finds new friends, forgiveness, confidence, food, love, acceptance, and ultimately, herself.
 
Eat Pray Love is based on the best-selling memoir of the same name. Having no exposure to the source material, I can’t speak to its faithfulness; but the film is beautiful thanks in part to Julia Roberts. The evolution of the main character makes the story interesting.  As Liz, Roberts is captivating if somewhat annoying as she wallows in self-pity. Though each stage of her travels, her character makes subtle changes.  In Italy she learns to eat again. In India, she rediscovers herself with the help of Richard Jenkins. In Bali, she finds love with Javier Bardem. I wouldn’t complain.  What really nags me is this:  with a running time of nearly three hours, the filme really should contain more substance.
 
So, as I see it… Eat Pray Love tries to be profound. It’s not, but it is inspirational on some level. The heroine carries on despite the naysayers and ultimately finds what she’s looking for. Eat Pray Love is entertaining because of it’s beauty—both texturally and visually. It’s like Sex in the City only less vapid.