Enlightenment becomes a Hollywood commodity in “Eat Pray Love.” The fictional movie adapts Elizabeth Gilbert’s 2006 best-selling memoir, a cult phenomenon, descriptively subtitled as “One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia.” It’s not just that Sony Pictures has mounted a crass marketing campaign, replete with product tie-ins, that runs in direct opposition to the book’s existential essence. It’s also that the ultimate shiny, happy superstar — Julia Roberts — plays the role of the struggling, unsettled modern everywoman.
However competent her basic acting skills, the Pretty Woman’s ubiquitous celebrity and tightly regulated personal image dominate a story about a contemplative writer’s year-long exploration. Nevertheless, the gorgeous gloss trowled over the production makes it palatable for a larger audience — though men will probably still stay away in droves. Think of it as a filmed version of “Eastern Spirituality for Dummies” with stunning travelogue footage of exotic locales and juicy relationship drama. To the credit of its detail-minded director/co-writer Ryan Murphy, the guy behind TV’s wonderful “Glee,” there remain a handful of deeply affecting moments in his “Eat Pray Love.” And those do communicate the soulful intentions behind the original piece.
The thirtysomething Gilbert (Roberts) resists convention: Unhappy with her soon-to-be former husband Steven (Billy Crudup), unenthusiastic about having children and unable to connect to her sexy younger boyfriend (James Franco). As only men have been allowed to do throughout history, she questions society’s role for her and lights out on her own hero’s journey.
In Rome, with indulgent eating as the metaphor, she makes a loving new family of friends who teach her about how to enjoy life guilt-free. Then, it’s off to an austere Indian ashram to follow the practices of a Hindu guru. Through meditation and bonding with a fellow disciple there, played by Richard Jenkins as a troubled Texan in an Oscar-worthy tour de force, she begins to understand how her thoughts are controlling her emotions and blocking her ability to live meaningfully.
So, by the time she gets to the idyllic Indonesian island of Bali, Gilbert starts to open herself up for the possibility of authentic love. This is never bad when the object of that affection is Javier Bardem.
The movie’s sudden fairy-tale ending counters the very idea that made “Eat Pray Love” interesting to many fully conscious women: In the long run, it’s not the happily-ever-after that makes you happy.
