EAT PRAY LOVE

Review: Eat Pray Love
3.5 stars (out of 5)
By R. Kurt Osenlund

When Elizabeth Gilbert released her hugely successful 2006 memoir, “Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia,” naysayers lambasted the New York writer, calling her selfish – a privileged, upper-crust woman with upper-crust problems whose all-expenses-paid globetrotting hardly warranted a philosophical travelogue, let alone one that would enjoy an extended stay on The New York Times Bestseller List. Yet, I don't think Gilbert set out to top the charts and conquer the world with her book, which chronicles her cross-continental quest for self and spirituality following the collapse of her marriage and emotional well-being. Sometimes people, regardless of their resources or backgrounds, need to take what they know to be the very best avenues for themselves. Sometimes selfishness is a necessity for survival, and others need not understand. That's what comes across most strongly in “Eat Pray Love,” the imperfect, pleasure-cruise adaptation of the book, directed and co-written by “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy. The movie hits lulls, overstays its welcome and follows a way-too-Hollywood trajectory, but it's also an exhilarating palate-pleaser, and a fine vehicle with which to reunite us with the movie star Julia Roberts.

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