*This is a review for the 2010 movie and not the book*

You know those films and books that everyone raves about as transformative or genre-defining and pesters about reading/watching it. You know the popular one’s: 50 Shades of Grey, Twilight, Hunger Games etc. For me, a lot of time, these movies/books are way too over rated.

As is Eat Pray Love.

A movie can either leave you entertained or inspired or even riddling in complex emotions by the time the credits roll. Eat Pray Love tries to do all three and fails at all of them.

Julia Roberts plays a successful writer who goes through a mid-life crisis and decides to embark on a life-changing tour to be inspired. She travels to Italy (Eat), India (Pray) and Love (Indonesia). I don’t remember what her name in the movie was and I have no intention of doing that bit of research.

The only learning I took from the film was that all you need is money to travel the world and find a spiritual guru because that will always get you the answers you seek.

The movie is very self-indulgent. Julia Robert’s character cannot decide if she wants a divorce or not then progresses to have a short lasted relationship and then flies off. I have seen Sajid Khan films that are better than that.

(That last bit was an exaggeration but you get the point, I hope)

The white lady travels to a few exotic countries and finds solace and peace, Sounds familiar? That’s because that is probably the lens through which the western world perceives us. I live in India and I never found any peace of thought, Julia Roberts stays for a month or two and suddenly she is basking in spiritual energy. Huh!

It must be noted that in each of these locations, she finds some form of expats who can relate to her. The Swedish in Italy, the Texan in India and the Brazilian in Bali.

Please.

If you have actually traveled that almost never happens.

She can try all the food she wants, meditate all she want or fall in love with a Brazilian, it doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s all about her. She is selfish and things are always about her and while the film tries hard to showcase her as this changed person, it does so in a very flimsy manner.

Don’t waste your 2 hours 20 minutes watching this self-indulgent movie, there are better things to do in life.

The only reaction I had to it was Bored Nauseous Barf and only two of them actually happened 🙂

Let me know what you think of this movie.