Eat Pray Love - 7/10
A privileged narcissist re-affirms their American-style narcissism, a journey.
We follow the protagonist, Liss, on a journey of self-discovery and love. First being divorced from a man in New York, to the depths of despair and self-doubt, and with a support network of friends among her, to pick her up at every turn. Going from a shallow, superficial marriage, straight into the hands of an ideologically possessed simpleton stage actor. The cracks in their relationship start to show almost immediately, but Liss has grown sufficiently enough that she will not tolerate staying with this actor, while unhappy with him, just to fend off loneliness. She breaks it off, and after some deliberation she decides to cash in her "lottery ticket", and go on a physical and spiritual journey. First to Eat in Italy, then Pray in a ashram in India and finally to Love in Bali - where she truely, with the kindness, empathy and compassion of Ketut's guidance learns to accept her Nature and risk love again, her & Felipe.
I haven't read the book, so I won't (and can't) base it off that - that seems unfair and is the most common & typical mistake most people who review movies based off of books do, sadly. Anyways, the movie is exceedingly emotional, to the point of absurdity, and that fact alone detracts a lot from the story and plot of the movie: self-discovery, acceptance & "balance". My favorite character of the movie, unsurprisingly, was Ketut; while the protagonist had, although romanticized, a flair of narcissism throughout the movie, even right before the credits rolled on the screen. How disappointing, and it might have something to do with Julia Roberts portrayal of the protagonist Liss. But I digress, if you take it as a whole and don't focus too much on the protagonist, it's still a good movie and the actors performance in the movie I found to be stellar. I can recommend as a casual viewing. 3.5/5
A privileged narcissist re-affirms their American-style narcissism, a journey.
We follow the protagonist, Liss, on a journey of self-discovery and love. First being divorced from a man in New York, to the depths of despair and self-doubt, and with a support network of friends among her, to pick her up at every turn. Going from a shallow, superficial marriage, straight into the hands of an ideologically possessed simpleton stage actor. The cracks in their relationship start to show almost immediately, but Liss has grown sufficiently enough that she will not tolerate staying with this actor, while unhappy with him, just to fend off loneliness. She breaks it off, and after some deliberation she decides to cash in her "lottery ticket", and go on a physical and spiritual journey. First to Eat in Italy, then Pray in a ashram in India and finally to Love in Bali - where she truely, with the kindness, empathy and compassion of Ketut's guidance learns to accept her Nature and risk love again, her & Felipe.
I haven't read the book, so I won't (and can't) base it off that - that seems unfair and is the most common & typical mistake most people who review movies based off of books do, sadly. Anyways, the movie is exceedingly emotional, to the point of absurdity, and that fact alone detracts a lot from the story and plot of the movie: self-discovery, acceptance & "balance". My favorite character of the movie, unsurprisingly, was Ketut; while the protagonist had, although romanticized, a flair of narcissism throughout the movie, even right before the credits rolled on the screen. How disappointing, and it might have something to do with Julia Roberts portrayal of the protagonist Liss. But I digress, if you take it as a whole and don't focus too much on the protagonist, it's still a good movie and the actors performance in the movie I found to be stellar. I can recommend as a casual viewing. 3.5/5
