Eat, Pray, Love

Title: Eat, Pray, Love (2010)
Director: Ryan Murphy
Genre: Drama
Lead Actor(s): Julia Roberts
Rating: PG-13
133 minutes

I haven’t read the book. I never really had an interest in seeing the movie for the movie. I didn’t mind seeing it because I saw it with friends. The movie follows Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) after divorcing her husband. She dates a wannabe actor and then decides to spend a year abroad. She starts in Italy (eat), goes to India (pray), and ends in Bali (love). On her travels she meets a colorful cast of characters that help her learn about life and herself.

While this is not Julia Roberts’ best movie, the problems are not due to her. She is not off-putting or completely awkward in the role. The character is surprisingly annoying. She comes across as very self-involved. Despite her life being in a disarray, everyone she comes across is better for having met her.

The only actor whose performance I really like is Richard Jenkins as Richard. I like the actor quite a bit. His character all seems to be one of the few that shows a genuine believable emotion. All the others are very obvious about their acting. Part of it is the characters. They all are too wonderful or too damaged or too static.

The directing also is decent. The shots show off the beauty of the scenery and situations. All the visuals are right for the settings and characters. The thing that brings the film down is the story. I have mentioned the immense problems with the characterizations, but it goes to more than that. This movie is supposed to be about a character who is so emotionally lost that she has to travel the world to get a better understanding of herself. She never seems to really want to become a better person. It all is superficial. I never believe the character for an instant.

From all the hype about the book, I expected at the very least a decent movie. The flaw stems from the book though. It is not the fault of anyone involved. Without changing a lot about the source material, no one could fix the problem with the main character. The best thing about the movie is the poster. I doubt this is how Roberts wanted to jump back into leading roles. At least she got a good trip out of it.

*** 3/10

Erin Brockovich

Title: Erin Brockovich (2000)
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Genre: Biography, Drama
Lead Actor(s): Julia Roberts, Albert Finney
Rating: R
130 minutes

Julia Roberts really breaks out in this movie. She plays the titular character, Erin. After losing a lawsuit, she goes to work for her lawyer. While there she begins researching one of his cases, she uncovers that Pacific Gas and Electric has essentially been poisoning an entire town. She also tries to balance what she feels is her duty with the town and her family consisting of 3 young children and a boyfriend.

As I said Julia Roberts is astounding in this. She moved from America’s sweetheart to a bad-ass actress. She returned to the feistiness that people loved in her performance as Vivian in Pretty Woman. Erin is loud-mouthed, foul-mouthed, brash, hot-tempered, and at times, a bitch. She is always unapologetic, even when she is proven wrong. She is also strongly protective of her children. It seems her priorities are 1. work 2. kids 3. herself 4. her boyfriend.

Albert Finney is a great actor and has the crotchety old man persona down pat. This is no exception. As Erin’s boss, Finney must walk a fine line of showing anger and disapproving of Erin while still making his charitable actions not appear out-of-character. Finney does so well. Aaron Eckhart is Erin’s biker boyfriend. He has an excellent rapport with her kids and seems to truly care about them and her. My friend who watched it with me liked him more than Erin.

I really liked the movie. The directing was very good. I thought that the cinematography was especially excellent. Most of the scenes set in Hinkley seem washed out and almost dirty. This is, however, not distracting in the least. The best part of the entire movie though is Roberts’s performance. She proves her versatility and likability in practically any role. It is an excellent film.

******* 7/10