Eat, Sleep, Love

Tonight, I finally broke down. I rented Eat, Pray, Love. Now, I'm not morally opposed to this movie in any way, but I purposely waited this long to watch it for a few reasons:

1. I really liked the book (with the exception of the "Pray" part that was interesting for a little while but then got boring and tedious) and movies rarely do the book versions justice and that kind of makes me angry
2. I really hate it when huge, A-list movie stars portray real-life people, especially when said real-life people are still alive and are not someone I can look up in a history book.
3. The movie didn't get great reviews, and I heard from more than one reliable real person source that the movie wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Still, I did eventually want to see it; I just wanted to wait a long enough period of time between reading it and watching it so I wouldn't remember enough of the book to spend the entire movie critiquing which parts were left out of the movie or different. Plus, James Franco and Javier Bardem were in it, so, if nothing else, there were pretty men to look at.

Anyways...

As much as I was opposed to Julia Roberts playing Elizabeth Gilbert, it actually ended up not bugging me that much. At least not compared to the ridiculous man they made Gilbert married to. I don't remember a lot of information about Gilbert's real ex-husband in the book, but if he was anything like the tool that they portray him as...I don't even have a comparison because he was so bizarre. It just seemed so unlikely that a successful, driven, worldly person like Liz Gilbert would marry someone who doesn't have his shit together and changes his mind seventeen times an hour. And sings in the middle of a divorce hearing. Weird.

Back to Julia Roberts. As famous as she is, she actually does a decent job of making you forget that she's the hooker from Pretty Woman and the woman who can't get married in Runaway Bride. She catches the essence of Liz Gilbert (at least how I remember it) enough to get the story line across without the audience constantly thinking, "Hey, you've won a lot of awards and you are definitely not Elizabeth Gilbert."

The movie itself was....not bad. I really did enjoy the "Eat" and "Love" parts and there were several touching moments where you can see what a true journey this woman took to re-find herself after a painful divorce. The "Pray" part, however, was just like the book: tolerable at first, but quickly turned tedious and boring. The best part of that section was when Liz was approached by a gigantic elephant. And it was mostly just 'cause elephants are cool and not because it really had anything to do with the plot. There's not much else I can tell you about the "Pray" part, because, honestly, I zoned out and started playing with my new phone.

What really made this movie appealing, I think, was the scenery. I've been to Italy and I've seen the fountains and mopeds on cobblestone streets, and delicious and colorful food. I have not been to either India or Bali, but I can imagine what they would be like thanks to the fantastic camerawork. The movie was supposed to be about one woman's journey to find herself in the midst of all these places, but, in reality, the scenery overpowered the plot a little and just made me want to visit those places.

All in all, I think the movie is worth seeing, especially if you liked the book. It's not one for your personal library, but it sends a good message to independent women and culturally curious individuals. But, if you're a travel bug like me, be prepared to want to jump on an airplane immediately.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars