Eat Pray Love (2010—133mins) Julia Roberts

Eat Pray Love is a chick flick based on a book which is supposedly based on true events. While I guess I can believe most of it, when people write a book about themselves (or tell stories too) some things get changed or embellished, and when that book is taken to a movie things get Hollywood-ized even more. Why am I saying this? Well, it’s b/c I don’t want anyone to defend the movie by saying “but it’s based on a true story!” But I am getting ahead of myself just a bit, let me explain the plot first.

  Ok so Liz (Roberts) is a woman who has a job and has a husband and some good friends. She gets some cryptic message from a “sooth sayer ” of sorts while on a trip who tells her some mumbo jumbo about how she will hit bottom soon and what she needs to do to find happiness, and to return to him in a year and then he will help her as she helps him as well. So naturally she hates her life more b/c of this and sub zero’s her marriage and then also next relationship with a crappy man (James Franco). So then the journey begins. She trods around the world (on the usual endless budget people get in these movies) and eventually finds herself in different spiritual points and back at the sooth-sayer.  It all takes quite a while in movie time and is good at times and slow at times. Before I get on my soap box rant on why she’s more of a full of shit basket-case idiot then looking for herself I will talk about the movie.

  Ok so I will first say that the mvie is probably 1/2 good, 1/2 boring. It starts meh ramps up when Liz gets to Italy then has a crash landing to snoozeville when she heads to India, and possibly recovers a bit about an hour!, later just in time for the ending. What does that mean? Well it means the movie is about 30 mins too long for men to care about. It means that I would rather suffer thru a Rom-Com with the Mrs GeekJock then watch this again. It doesn’t really enter the “bad” end of movies but never gets it self to the “good” one either. Some women, and some granola type single men, will like it b/c they want to have this fantasy finding yourself inner journey thru the world to find something, that is missing. The rest of us are perfectly happy with things like a nice walk on the beach at sunset with the woman of our dreams (Mrs. Geekjock is that perfection of a woman) and don’t need to go to a 3rd world country to find our inner spirituality.

First I will do the verdict then in GeekJock fashion I am going to get on my soapbox with spoilers.

Verdict—> It’s a bit too long for a great thumbs up for everyone. Like I said groups of woman at a girls night will love it. If there is nothing else there and your wife WANTS a her movie then you might have to sit thru it, and it won’t be terrible but I would try for something like Leap Year or another Rom Com 1st. Again you could do worse b/c at least Julia Roberts is still hot and likable.

SOAP BOX (and spoiler) alert—> Ok here we go. I am going to pick apart this woman a bit and people who might be like her. So if you are easily offended, then stop reading b/c I don’t give a shit. First of all this woman’s problem isn’t her spirituality, it’s the fact she has both shitty luck in men and complete lack of self worth that she won’t leave them. If she’s not happy with he 1st husband (who didn’t seem terrible) then get a hobby, find some friends to do something with or talk it out. Ok so if she must leave him, then stuck with the 2nd guy and bam he blows. Well then leave the prick. There are plenty of fish in the sea. You don’t need to go 6K miles to find out you have no spine! Oh and about the sooth sayer, and this is a lesson for ANYONE out there so listen up. You go to a person like this seeking some guidance, well he already knows you think little of yourself and are down and headed for a crash, NATURALLY he is going to say you are going for that crash or you are going thru or had a divorce. It’s reading people not reading palms. They are as usual just feeding off your lack of self confidence. Why else would you be at a person like that? Smarten up Liz. I don’t like how people write books to try and also prey on the normal feelings of mid-life women who read these books. Those people who go thru hormonal questions of life and the universe b/c they might be wondering if the same old same old world is happiness, when if they REALLY think about it, IT IS. They are trying to sell copies.  And I don’t like that. She has, in essence herself, become a con woman sooth-sayer. Spinning a yarn of “go find yourself” for people. Bullshit I say. The majority of the world doesn’t need to go to India to be happy.

Use the book/movie for escapism, and for an entertaining couple hour story. But, please don’t use it for a direction of your life.

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