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Eat Pray Love (2010)
Director: Ryan Murphy
Synopsis
While trying to get pregnant, a happily married woman (Julia Roberts) realises her life needs to go in a different direction and embarks on an around-the-world jaunt.
Movie review
From Time Out New York
No one is going into the breezy movie version of Elizabeth Gilbert’s globe-trotting empowerment memoir expecting it to be ‘Siddhartha’ – and if they are, they’re being unfair. This is expertly wrought pop-psychology; perfect plates of pasta will be consumed in Rome (to nourish a wounded heart), then the soul will be tended in an Indian ashram, and finally romance will flourish in sultry Bali. Compared to a lot of cinema’s lunk-headed fantasies, is that really so offensive?So, like a bad nutritionist, I’m less concerned with what goes into ‘Eat Pray Love’ than what comes out of it. First and foremost is Julia Roberts, who, even though she never seems to gain weight, flatters Gilbert’s divorcée with a complex performance – to these eyes, her best. Roberts has a star’s presence, which she underplays, curling into balls of insecurity and lifting her wine glass in tear-rimmed ruefulness. Even if you know where this story is going, it’s rare when Hollywood indulges such a robust woman’s picture, neither a glossy ‘Sex and the City 2’ nor a cryptic, Indiewood ‘Winter’s Bone’. Rather, here’s a vehicle that could have been driven by Faye Dunaway or Gena Rowlands.
The performances are knockouts, especially Richard Jenkins as a damaged Texas spiritualist who steeps the movie in intimacy. Oh, to have Julia’s choices: crushed ex-husband Billy Crudup, cute yogi James Franco, the Bali-dwelling Javier Bardem. The movie is aware of its own riches; it fills up your plate and dares you not to eat.
Author: Joshua Rothkopf
Time Out New York Issue 2092: 23–29 September, 2010
Cast & crew
Director: Ryan Murphy
Cast: Julia Roberts, James Franco, Javier Bardem, Billy Crudup, Richard Jenkins, Viola Davis full cast
Duration: 140 mins
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