Review of Eat Pray Love (2010) by Stuart B — 01 Oct 2011

Ugh. I mean.. Ugh. I don't even fully understand why I sat down and watched this whiny, narcissistic love affair Julia Roberts has with herself. I mean, is this the modern woman? If it is then I hope to move to Bali and never set eyes on one ever again. I'm all for women to find themselves and enjoy life and all those other post-Suffragette ideals, but this is feminism to the extreme, where a rich, self loving whiny woman who is never satisfied and always after something better decides to ditch her life for a year to find 'herself'.

I guess the book has some deep emotional connection with the character, but unfortunately for anyone watching the movie, it is sadly bereft of anything coming close to a pulse. Roberts' character, despite her obvious efforts, is utterly repulsive, and when a lead has such a disconnect with the audience then automatically it will be difficult to succeed. I just ended up sitting through what was surprisingly only 2 1/2 hours (though it felt much longer) as the pathos built to an insufferable level.

I mean, how laughable was a scene where Roberts' pronounces to another woman that she should shed her self constrained dietary regime and allow her 'muffin top' to overflow and just go up a jeans size. And then follows the size 8 model trying to squeeze into some extra tight jeans. It was just hypocrisy overload.

Have expectations for romance movies been lowered to such a level? Beyond Bridesmaids its been a long time since I saw a decent one. And not many have been this bad. As a travel program its decent, as a food lovers show it's good, but anyone hoping to gain something of themselves in this turgid, self satisfied, hollow and uninspiring dirge is bound to find much to be desired, and more than likely a little sick to the stomach. And that has nothing to do with the pasta.