Eat Pray Love Movie Review

Synopsis

Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having – a husband, a house, a successful career – yet like so many others, she found herself lost, confused, and searching for what she really wanted in life. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery.  In her travels, she discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy; the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in Bali.  Based upon the bestselling memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love proves that there really is more than one way to let yourself go and see the world.

The Best

Where the hell do I start? There was so much good to Eat Pray Love and simply not enough space on this page! The movie was moving, inspiring, enlightening, healing, enriching and entertaining – all the ‘ings’ you could possibly wish for in a film. It’s semi-epic length and beautiful cinematography really made you feel part of Liz’s (Julia Roberts) journey. The Director, Ryan Murphy, managed to magnificently capture the essence of each city, enough to give you a real feel for what the country is like. With a real whirlwind of emotions throughout the film – you come out feeling exhausted despite spending approximately 2 hours sitting on a chair.  Exhausted in a good way, as though you’ve been on a journey to replenish the soul and succeeded. A word of warning though, this is definitely not a film I would say the average straight guy would enjoy so save yourself the huffing and puffing and watch it with the girls…

The Worst

I am a firm believer that movies and books should not be compared in any way, shape or form. After all, they are entirely different. Needless to say I despise the phrase “The movie wasn’t as good as the book” – c’mon people – that’s like comparing chalk to cheese! Having said that, there were quite a few things in the book that were either missed out entirely or adapted to suit a cinematic equivalent. One particular change springs to mind and that’s that the sexy Giovanni (Luca Argentero) is meant to have an identical twin, Dario – which I was totally looking forward to seeing on screen! Having gotten over the disappointment of not seeing two irresistible identical Italian twins, the worst of the film was pretty much over.

The Verdict

Eat Pray Love is an inspirational piece of cinematic beauty that briefly allows your imagination to enter the realm of reality. I must confess  however that Eat Pray Love should carry a warning as it’s so easy to reevaluate your life, only to focus on everything that’s wrong. Which, in turn, allows you to be seduced into embarking on a similar , romanticised, yet awe-inspiring journey.

Credits

A big thank you to Alice and Laura from @WayToBlue for the kind invitation – my guest and I had a brilliant time. Thanks also to Emm from Emm In London who I sat next to during the movie (and the only person I met actually as I arrived so late!) Finally, thank you to Sony Studios London for hosting the event and for making yet another fabulous film…

Eat Pray Love hits the UK screens on September 24th 2010 – don’t miss it!