A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

The Evaluation System Reviews by Title Reviews by Date

Reviews from Video Reviews of the Classics Personal Background

Title: Eat, Pray, Love

Date Viewed: 8/26/10

Details:

Julia Roberts

Billy Crudup

James Franco

Richard Jenkins

Javier Bardem

Viola Davis

Director: Ryan Murphy

Score: +

The Review: Perhaps not the best date movie for your anniversary, but pretty good anyway.

Three chapters in a life recovering from a messy divorce, encapsulated in the title -- eating in Italy, praying (and meditation) in India, and the possibility of love in Indonesia. For me, the six months in Italy were amazing: a paean to food, the wonders of eating and the social network thus arising -- along with some images that are borderline "food porn" -- offering a great advertisement both for dolce far niente and (yes) for forgetting to thaw the turkey.

Although Gilbert (Roberts) is clearly both focal point and author, I found the most interesting character to be Richard from Texas (Jenkins) -- but maybe I have an affinity for grumpy old curmudgeons.

From Elizabeth Gilbert'sbest-selling book.

Also recommended is a fascinating TEDTalk by the author about creativity (check out iTunes or theTEDTalks website,recorded live, 9-Feb-2009). And if you stopped along any of these links to read all the negative reviews on Amazon, pay no attention to them. The travelogue and personal journey is interesting -- perhaps not very deep, but nonetheless engaging, watchable and curiously structured.

(29-Aug-10)

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