Quick Review: Eat Pray Love

I sooooooo wanted "Eat Pray Love" to be a complete disaster, worthy of nothing but utter disdain and contempt, so I could write a three-word review such as "Barf Scream Stab" and be done with it. Alas, it was not to be. Not that it's all that great. "Eat Pray Love" is based on a memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert, and she's played by Julia Roberts. Poor Liz is unhappy in her failing marriage (husband played by Billy Crudup); then she's unhappy with her younger rebound guy (played by James Franco) so she decides to take off for a year. She goes to Italy (to eat), then to India (to pray) and then to Bali (not with the explicit purpose to love, but she finds it anyway with a fellow divorcee played by Javier Bardem). Even with voiceover narratives I couldn't quite figure out exactly why Liz was so unhappy. Maybe the book spells it out more clearly. Instead of being an insightful journey of self-discovery, it all seemed a bit trite. At least there's a variety of male eye candy in the film, including a gorgeous Italian man named Luca Argentero, who posed for a 2004 calendar. He actually looks better now then he did back then. One of the calendar shots is below; if you do a search, you can see a full rear nude shot as well. You're welcome. My grade: C-plus.