As many of you know, I’m a thousand times more likely to read five reviews of a film than actually see it in the theater. But somehow I managed to dodge all the coverage of Eat Pray Love and sneak off to see it with my friend Shana on its opening night.
First, the good news: The cinematography was beautiful, Julia Roberts played a very convincing Liz, and Javier Bardem was y-u-m-m-y.
But somehow the adaptation process turned an insightful, thoroughly inspiring, well-told story into an overly sweet, non-sensical mash up of movie clips. It was like a rock skipping over water, hitting the plot at various points, but not really connecting the dots.
Examples: While Julia Roberts did a great job of portraying the actual flip out, the viewer is given no insight on why Liz feels she must suddenly end her marriage. The animal magnetism of the rebound boyfriend did not translate at all (James Franco? Really?), and the deep well-reasoned argument that Liz provides in the book for taking the year off is nowhere to be found. And that’s all before she ever even sets foot in Italy.
The India part of the movie dragged out a bit, and the Bali part came dangerously close to being a stand-alone romantic comedy (note: not a compliment).
To do a book like this justice, it should have been made into a trilogy, allowing time to really explore the nuances each journey, and more importantly, how they all fit together. Three movies may sound like overkill, but it’s a powerful story with universal appeal, and if done correctly, it would have worked (think Jason Bourne and Frodo Baggins).
There was a trilogy’s worth of hype, too. Lonely Planet created an EPL travel guide, Fresh has a line of perfumes and scented candles inspired by Liz, and if you google “eat pray love hotel package”, you’ll see that hotels across the country are doing EPL-themed events all over the country. When people unconnected to a film (or product, or anything) start doing your advertising for you, you know you’ve got some serious brand awareness. What a waste!
And now if you’ll excuse me, I have some film reviews to read…
#1 by Joy on August 14, 2010 - 12:46 pm
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Oh dear god, that’s so depressing. I was actually starting to warm up to the idea of seeing the movie. But I don’t think I can handle my beloved book being adapted as poorly as what you described. Crap.
#2 by Laura on August 14, 2010 - 5:05 pm
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It just fell flat, and actually was kind of boring. My friend Shana and I compared notes afterwards, and she felt the same way about the missing pieces of the plot, even though she hadn’t read the book.
We should have seen Inception instead! :)
#3 by Shana on August 14, 2010 - 9:47 pm
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I will say the movie made me want to read the book to find out about the missing pieces. It seems like a great story that was not told thoroughly through the film.
I have no regrets getting out with a friend on a Friday night to see, “y-u-m-m-y” Jaivier Bardem.
#4 by Laura on August 15, 2010 - 9:50 pm
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No regrets here, either! I had a great time. But clearly you should be in charge of picking what we see next time… and let’s make sure there are lots of next times!
#5 by Lucia on August 15, 2010 - 2:04 pm
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Thoroughly agree with your review. It was a superficial adaptation of a very insightful book. All of the complexity of the psychological and spiritual journey that Liz embarked on is missing almost entirely. The makers of this movie chose plot, sound and action over substance–for commercial reasons, no doubt. Having said this, the cinematography is sumptuous and the actors who play the supporting characters (with the exceptional of a weak James Franco), superb. Javier Bardem: enthralling. Whatever the outcome, I do hope people see the movie…and then go read the book! What a brilliant idea to make a trilogy of it.
#6 by Laura on August 15, 2010 - 9:49 pm
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Lucia! VERY well put.
One review I read said: “If this film was adapted correctly, then why was this a bestselling book? And if it wasn’t adapted correctly, why not?”
The answer, as you and I know, is the latter… but her question remains: why wasn’t it adapted correctly? And not only that, the whole thing just fell flat. I might excuse taking too many liberties with the adaptation if it had some spunk, intellect, and humor of its own… but this was a weak script. A shame.
#7 by Lisbeth on August 16, 2010 - 3:39 am
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Thanks for being the guinea pig, Laura. Even if I love Javier Bardem, I will go with my gut feeling and not watch this movie when it hits the screens over here. Perhaps I will enjoy it later when the book is more faded in my memory – or when the trilogy comes out :)
#8 by Virginia Abreu de Paula on January 22, 2012 - 3:35 pm
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I don’t know the book and saw the movie last night via HBO. I could not believe on it. In my modest opinion, it was so full of cliches that looked more like a romantic comedy of the fifties. Ridiculous! Now I know that the book is something totally different. I just don’t understand why they spoilt a good book like that. By the way, I am Brazilian, and though I like Javier Baden, his Portuguese sounds like Spanish. And Brazilian fathers don’t kiss their children’s lips. Now…I had to laugh when I saw Felipe’s son holding a football. OMG. What a lack of imagination. I read so many reviews saying it’s not a good movie but, for me, it’s not enough. They should say the truth: it’s a really bad movie. In fact, it stinks. Looks like self help books and pps files we receive in internet chains. Really.