EAT PRAY LOVE
2 out of 5 stars

liz: ketut, how old are you?

ketut the balinese medicine man: i am one hundred and one. or maybe sixty-four.

this was a major disappointment for me because i thought the book was just so well-written and inspirational, and i thought that the film adaptation would be just as so. i was wrong... plus, sorry, julia... you just come across as a real whiny WASP-y bitch in this one... :/

for those who don’t know the story of the infamous self-enlightenment autobiography of famed author elizabeth gilbert... liz (julia roberts) is happily married to stephen (billy crudup), has a great writing career, has great friends, etc. the only thing missing in her life is PASSION. she’s sort of clinically depressed/goes through this mid-life crisis, so she divorces her husband cold-turkey, and decides to pack her bags to travel the world. however, not before she has a fling with a young NYC actor named david (james franco who needs to cut his hair)... first stop: ROME. cut to: lots of delicious italian dishes, gelato, and hanging out with great italian friends. second stop: CALCUTTA. cut to: lots of meditation, richard the texan, and an indian wedding! third stop: BALI. cut to: lots of beautiful tropics, spanish hottie javier bardem, and a funny medicine man named ketut, who apparently started this self journey for liz in the first place...

soooooo many problems with this movie... where do i even begin? first off...the calcutta/india scenes were just offensive! liz ends up in this guru’s temple all for the wrong reasons, and it’s totally clear that she doesn’t know what she’s even doing there and keeps expecting the “answers to life” to fall into her lap. uhh...sorry, it doesn’t work that way! the flashback scenes to liz’s “former life” in NYC are very choppy and the james franco scenes are actually inappropriately timed at times... i really wished they would have casted someone more neurotic like ellen pompeo or jennifer aniston because julia is too stiff for this role. (it doesn’t really fit the character of liz) the rome part is just so-so; india part blows; bali is fun. (as it should be!) this would have been better if they took it on a more comedic approach. waaay too serious for a movie about self-discovery... nor, does it make me want to find balance in my life? :/