MOVIE OF THE WEEK #3: EAT, PRAY, LOVE
KEY CAST MEMBERS: Julia Roberts, James Franco, Richard Jenkins, Viola Davis, Billy Crudup, Javier Bardem, Mike O'Malley, Welker White, Luca Argentero and Hadi Subiyanto
STORY/SCREENPLAY BY: Ryan Murphy and Jennifer Salt; based on the book by Elizabeth Gilbert
DIRECTOR: Ryan Murphy
WEB SITE: www.letyourselfgo.com/
THE PLOT: Based on the book of the same name by the woman who inspired the main character, Eat, Pray, Love stars Julia Roberts as Liz Gilbert. A writer by trade, Liz one day has a very important realization: She not only doesn't want to be married (much to the chagrin of her husband, played by Billy Crudup), she is not happy at all.
Sure, her latest work is currently an off-Broadway play starring David Piccolo (James Franco) and her agent (Viola Davis) thinks she just needs to mourn the end of her marriage a little while, but Liz has a different idea: She needs to find herself - and after a trip to Bali and a meeting with a local medicine man named Ketut (Hadi Subiyanto) - she comes up with what seems like the perfect plan to do so ...
Take a year off from her life to travel to Italy where she will eat to her heart's content, then India to explore her newfound interest in prayer and - as Ketut told her she would - back to Bali. As she makes undertakes her journey, Liz finds herself running into quite a cast of interesting characters such as Richard from Texas (Richard Jenkins) and Felipe (Javier Bardem), each of whom's influence is felt in a variety of unexpected, life-changing ways ...
THE TAKE: I, like many people unfamiliar with Eat, Pray, Love in its book form, saw the film's trailer and was ready to dismiss it as another mindless "chick flick." (After a spring/summer filled with releases like Letters to Juliet, The Back Up Plan, and The Bounty Hunter, could you blame me?)
So, on behalf of all those who I was ready to offend potentially by dismissing it as such, I apologize - for Eat, Pray, Love is a highly watchable film that you may find as inspiring as the real life Elizabeth Gilbert did herself.
Eat, Pray, Love works due to a very simple formula that many films and their creators fail to follow: Give an audience [1] A well-developed story with [2] Beautiful cinematography and [3] Acting that draws you into the characters, reveals their flaws and reasoning so you understand them both and then can cheer for them when they achieve/discover/find the thing/things they have long been in search of.
Roberts chose this project (I assume) because she felt a great connection to the story and its author. Whatever her motivation, it is one that serves well throughout the film as she makes her "character" into a real person (ironic since she's playing a real person, I know) exploring her life in a way that makes you tap into your own emotions and become engaged as she does. Likewise, none of the film's characters are portrayed or written as caricatures, have all the answers in their own lives and essential to different facets to Elizabeth's journey. These are real people involved in real situations in life searching for real answers - and that in turn makes watching them all so interesting.
Co-writer/director Ryan Murphy deserves much of the acclaim for the film's success, of course, for getting the cast to tap into all of these emotions while showcasing the environments that were essential to Gilbert's trip. In doing so, he makes them an essential part of film as opposed to the way some films (I'm looking at YOU, Sex and the City 2!) haphazardly have attempted to do so recently. Murphy draws out the best in both his environments and cast while they both, at times, are featured at their worst, all of which makes Gilbert's journey all the more enjoyable.
While the film isn't perfect, neither is it's main character - but it strives to be as good as it can, which is fitting all things considered.
PARTING SHOT: Based on a true story that would be too unbelievable to enjoy if it were not, Eat, Pray, Love shows that those three activities can make for a very interesting and fulfilling life ... And a genuine, inspiring and highly watchable cinematic experience, too.
RATING (OUT OF FOUR POSSIBLE BUCKETS OF POPCORN):
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