9 times out of 10 I would have gone with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrel, except for the fact that buddy cop movies are terrible. Always. I have seen at least 5 and they are all the exact same. I feel like The Other Guys was made to be satirical of the genre but I just wasn't in the mood for it. So I decided to see
Eat, Pray, Love (Ryan Murphy, 2010)
If you are looking for a film that absolutely captures the magnificence of the location, this isn't a film for you (Try Paris, Je T'aime or Vicky Christina Barcelona). If you are looking for some phenomenal acting, skip this. If you are looking for the vapid blathering of a woman going through a midlife crisis: Bingo.Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Erin Brockovich) plays a woman who, after going through a painful divorce, decides to travel and find herself.
As I have mentioned before, sometimes sitting down to a nice chick flick can be fun, but this, not so much. The cliché story and poor writing made the movie seem like it was a few days long. I found myself around the halfway point thinking to myself, God, is this over yet? I have places to be tomorrow.
So, Julia Roberts goes through this huge divorce and, I gotta say, her life wasn't really that bad. She breaks things off with her husband without even attempting to compromise with him. They had been married for a year or so and they were acting like teenagers. She is really overdramatic and just seemed depressed and he seemed like he genuinely wanted to work things out. But she didn't bother to give him a fighting chance. Pshaw and guffaw.
I should probably mention, in the beginning of the film, she gets prompted by a Spiritual Healer in Bali who tells her that she is going to be married twice, one short and one long. So she goes back and lives out this self fulfilling prophecy. Then she meets James Franco (Spiderman, Pineapple Express, Annapolis) and has a short little fling with him, then bails for Italy. Meets some people there, blah blah blah, goes to Bali and basically the entire film is just absolute crap until Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men, Vicky Christina Barcelona, Love in the Time of Cholera) shows up. Then, Bali gets this romance to it, whereas before, it seemed very dirty and morose.
As far as the scenery goes in general, it didn't make me want to travel there like most movies "travel movies" do. If you're in Italy, show me the most romantic locations; take me to places that only the locals know. Make me contemplate abandoning my prior engagements to get on a plane tomorrow. I felt nothing towards the scenery other than, Wow, that's definitely not America.
The last problem I'll share is that, in most of the film, the lighting was terrible. I think it was probably intentional, but the lighting is so strong in most scenes that Julia Roberts has this halo around her head. I pray that it was a fluke and that Ryan Murphy was just so over budget and out of time that he just said, "Screw it, we'll try and fix it in post!" Otherwise, he missed the mark entirely. If he tried to make her seem angelic, then he must have been reading the wrong script. In the movie (I didn't read the memoirs of the same name, nor do I care to) she isn't an angel at all. She is flawed and lonely and depressed and melodramatic. Maybe that's what someone like John Waters would argue is an Angel, but that's not what mainstream America would say, which is this movie's target audience!
★★ - Originally, I was going to give this ★ ½, but I guess I was a little harsh on the acting. It just seemed to drag on for sooooooooo loooonnnnnggggg that, by the end, I never wanted to hear Julia Roberts say another word. her acting skills could've gotten exponentially better to the point where I started to enjoy her, but it wouldn't have mattered. It still would've felt like an eternity due to the terrible writing. At least it didn't have Mila Kunis though (Don't ever see Max Payne. I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy). Everything with Javier Bardem made this movie a lot more tolerable, but until he showed up, the movie itself was just absolute crap. Trust me, watch Vicky Christina Barcelona and thank me later. Or even if you want a film with a confused older woman, scrambling to find what she wants in life, watch It's Complicated. At least that is heartwarming.
I am going to do a "Vintage Dames" post soon enough. Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, and Marilyn Monroe. I'm really excited about that :) Already watched my Ingrid Bergman film, Goodbye Again. More soon!
Roll credits.
I'm loving your reviews already.
ReplyDeleteI am a huge fan of reading books before the movie, and I just started reading Eat, Pray, Love. And judging from what I've read thus far, and what you had to say, I'm guessing this is one of those movies that they failed at making for the audience that didn't read the book.
Time Traveler's Wife, Twilight Series, etc.
Just so you have some background info about the divorce (which they obviously failed to share with the audience)... she had been with the guy in real life for 8 years, and they were trying to have a baby, but she didn't want one. They actually had a lot of problems and she just didn't feel connected to him anymore... so she moved on - the James Franco character she was with for years in the book off and on.
But you're right - she's very melodramatic and worrisome, and strange. I think this book/movie was made for 36 year old women who have been divorced or want to be divorced (small audience).
I've heard the movie is terrible from several people, so I'm going to read the book, and wait until a decent Internet download comes along instead of wasting my money!
Good plan. They brushed on some of the things you were talking about, but not very heavily. Like, I feel like they could have made her seem less like a woman who just needed some Zoloft and more like a woman who is really suffocating emotionally. It just didn't do it for me.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm glad you are enjoying these :) I have fun writing them. It's so much easier to write about movies I didn't like, rather than movies I did.
I agree with Amy. I have read the book and it's both educational and entertaining (surprising but true). Not every director is able to transfer the idea of the book into a movie.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that it has turned out like that. Well, I guess we have one more movie about emotionally unstable woman going through her mid-life crisis.
Anyway, a nice review. It's really easy to read. Way to go! :)
Ha ha maybe I will do a day of "movies about emotionally unstable woman going through their mid-life crises"
ReplyDeleteBut glad you enjoyed reading it :)
I stumbled across your blog & am thrilled to find someone who agrees that this film was boring. I realized going into it that it would be targeted towards Oprah's Book Club-type women, but OH MAN. I almost burst out laughing during that part where she tries to pray for the first time & starts bawling (does this make me a horrible person?)
ReplyDeleteThe only things I liked about this movie where a) the spaghetti, b) how the old dude calls her "groceries." Considering Ryan Murphy directed it, I was hoping it would have a little more pizzaz. Oh well.
Richard Jenkins calling her "Groceries" was so awesome. He was really well cast for that role. But yeah, they only had pizza in that one scene. But the spaghetti looked really awesome.
ReplyDeleteLaughing at her crying during prayer doesn't make you a bad person. I felt complete apathy towards her.
I just now learned that Ryan Murphy directed Running With Scissors which was another film I really didn't feel anything towards. I'll do a post about that.