Elizabeth Gilbert’s blockbuster book comes to the big screen with Julia Roberts portraying the author who embarks on a yearlong quest to understand her inner turmoil. The locations of the film version of Eat Pray Love are beautiful to behold, and Julia Roberts, as always, is immensely watchable. But there is little emotional connection.
I didn’t read the book, so it’s hard for me to say why the material doesn’t resonate on the screen. It has a strong supporting cast that includes James Franco, Tuva Novotny and Viola Davis. Richard Jenkins is especially touching as the psychologically battered Richard from Texas who Gilbert meets at an Indian ashram. Billy Crudup stands out as the kooky spouse she leaves behind.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s fun to watch the character journey to Italy to consume mass quantities, get in touch with her spiritual side in India, and find love in Bali when she meets a man she can’t resist. Javier Bardem, who plays that man, exudes a sufficient amount of rugged sexiness. (So my wife tells me.)
Maybe the problem is the structure of the material. When it comes down to it, doesn’t the title say it all? We, in essence, already know what’s going to happen at each destination. We know we’re going to see a lot of great food in Italy, explore spirituality in India and... well, you get the picture. And at two-plus hours, that picture wears a little thin.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of Eat Pray Love is the fact that there was talk of changing the title. At least that’s what I hear from an unknown source, who got it from someone off the record, overhearing a guy who knows someone who almost worked on the movie.
I know you’re thinking, “It was a best-selling book! How can they change the title?” Well, this is Hollywood. If studios love anything, it’s the development process. And if they live by any rule, it’s “If it ain’t broken, we can easily fix that.”
So stealing a page from David Letterman’s play book, I smuggled a secret spy onto the lot, and he (or is it she? I’ll never tell!) was able to uncover the list of the considered title changes for Eat Pray Love.
They are as follows:
Eat Drink Smoke
Eat Pray Bitch
Consume Worship Fornicate
My Wife Went to Italy, India and Bali and All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt
I Pray You Love to Eat
CSI: Italy, India, Bali
Love Pray Eat (from the dyslexic copywriter)
Pray These Jeans Don’t Make Me Look Fat, Love
Eat Drink Man Wo... what? It’s already been taken?
Diet Blaspheme Abstain -- A Bizzaro World Presentation
Pretty Woman 2
On second thought, maybe it was best to stick with the original.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
