For a movie starring Julia Roberts and taking place over three gorgeous locations, this movie should be a vicarious thrill. Instead, we are given the first 2/3 of the movie inside main character Liz’s (Roberts role) quest to find herself during a yearlong sebactacle - a long, boring, self-centered to the extreme view of the world. The movie fails to sufficiently explain to us why her character is so miserable in the first place and why her marriage ultimately fails. One minute she is seemingly happy attending a party with her husband (Billy Crudup in a to brief role) and the next she is crying while she prays to god asking what she should do next. I think it would have been easier to go on this journey with Roberts character if we were given the chance to be privy to her life experience prior, but I digress.
First stop on the itinerary is Italy, a ho-hum experience where the best story is happening to her friend (a fellow American) she meets in a café upon arriving. Julia eats spaghetti and pizza guilt-free and buys bigger jeans with before mentioned girlfriend in a moment of inspired feminism, but otherwise, it’s uneventful but beautiful to look at. It seems Liz is still mourning the end of her marriage she thought she wanted and then a brief fling with a young, up and coming actor played by James Franco that was ill-advised and ill-timed. Much like the ending of her marriage, the audience gets no real explanation of what goes wrong, the relationship just sours and she moves on.
Next is India, where her plan is to meditate and find inner peace– all I found were minor characters far more interesting than her and a travel tip to bring straws if I’m ever planning to travel to India myself. I did like the interaction between Roberts and Richard Jenkins who plays a fellow meditation student, but it was not enough to distract from the other clichés that abounded.
I did wake back up when Javier Bardem comes on the screen during the last leg of her trip in Indonesia (namely Bali). It has been quite awhile since I noticed so distinctly an actors charisma and star power as he literally brought this film to life. If only the entire movie had included his performance it would have been better off. This is a story you grow to care about because we’re given a chance to; we learn why his character Felipe has shut himself off from love and feel satisfaction in seeing them together. It makes sense to know that Felipe in the book is her now husband and subject of her second book “Committed”. Even the music seems to come alive as we’re treated to the best of Brazilian samba.
Not all books move well from page to screen and this is one I fear was lost in translation.
First stop on the itinerary is Italy, a ho-hum experience where the best story is happening to her friend (a fellow American) she meets in a café upon arriving. Julia eats spaghetti and pizza guilt-free and buys bigger jeans with before mentioned girlfriend in a moment of inspired feminism, but otherwise, it’s uneventful but beautiful to look at. It seems Liz is still mourning the end of her marriage she thought she wanted and then a brief fling with a young, up and coming actor played by James Franco that was ill-advised and ill-timed. Much like the ending of her marriage, the audience gets no real explanation of what goes wrong, the relationship just sours and she moves on.
Next is India, where her plan is to meditate and find inner peace– all I found were minor characters far more interesting than her and a travel tip to bring straws if I’m ever planning to travel to India myself. I did like the interaction between Roberts and Richard Jenkins who plays a fellow meditation student, but it was not enough to distract from the other clichés that abounded.
I did wake back up when Javier Bardem comes on the screen during the last leg of her trip in Indonesia (namely Bali). It has been quite awhile since I noticed so distinctly an actors charisma and star power as he literally brought this film to life. If only the entire movie had included his performance it would have been better off. This is a story you grow to care about because we’re given a chance to; we learn why his character Felipe has shut himself off from love and feel satisfaction in seeing them together. It makes sense to know that Felipe in the book is her now husband and subject of her second book “Committed”. Even the music seems to come alive as we’re treated to the best of Brazilian samba.
Not all books move well from page to screen and this is one I fear was lost in translation.
2 out of 5
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