Eat Pray Love

Last night on my way to Fusion I was caught in what seemed like the worst traffic jam in the history of traffic jams.  No accident, no collapsed road, just people driving slowly and erratically and I missed Fusion.  So, in its absence I took Hubs to see Eat Pray Love. 

         I had extremely high hopes for this movie.  And while I can’t say I thought it was great; it wasn’t awful either—Hubs felt a little differently.  He was less than impressed with the cinematic counterpart to my favorite book.  He was a trooper though; he sat through the entire 2:13 minutes with only a couple annoyed shifts in his seat. And when it was all over, he simply said he couldn’t identify with any of the characters and he has no feelings about this movie at all.  Well, duh--it’s a movie about a woman on a search for self discovery after leaving her dull and lifeless marriage.  I’m not sure what I expected him to say.

         Earlier today, I heard another unfavorable review from a friend, she said, “she enjoyed the book but hated the movie.”  In the movie's defense; it was exactly what her book was: a quiet journey through Italy, India, and Indonesia aka spaghetti, chanting, and meditation.  And in reality that’s just not very exciting.  Sure, anyone can do action, comedy, or even romance but this was a documentary of her personal travels, inner dialogue, and her slow transformation into the person she wanted to be…

        I can’t imagine how upset the world would be if they had spent $10 to sit through 2:13 minutes of footage from my time in Chicago.  Frozen pizza after frozen pizza, cuddling with Maggie, pilates, staying in, movies, sleeping, yoga, tv, and traveling home to visit my family.  Seriously, that does not an action movie make….

         All in all, I think it was well done.  I thought Julia Roberts played Elizabeth Gilbert perfectly (perfectly as in the vision I had in my mind) and I will definitely watch it again when it comes on TV.  But, in the meantime, I think should re-read the book because so many of her  ideas and ah-ha moments got lost in the making of the movie that it barely scratched the surface on what Elizabeth Gilbert journey was really about….the ever changing need to stay true to yourself.