The Kidd Vs. Eat Pray Love

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There’s a reason Elizabeth Gilbert’s post-divorce memoir Eat Pray Love has found itself on best-seller lists for the better part of 3 years. This isn’t your typical story of a woman who is stuck in a place of unhappiness as she makes her way through life and just deals with it. Often we read books and watch films where our lead character feels trapped and seeks to discover why they are in that rut, why they are the problem, yet they do nothing about course-correcting their lives. And we relate to those characters, because we can relate to their feelings. We know and understand what it’s like to be unhappy, and we’ll bitch and complain to anyone who’ll listen to us about our problems… but will we take the steps necessary to change them? Usually not. We are so comfortable, so complacent, that we’d rather suffer in silence than rock the boat. Think about it… how many people do you know who bitch and complain about their shitty jobs? Now answer how many of them actively go about trying to change the situation. How many people do you know who bitch and complain about their shitty relationships? Now answer how many of them choose to get out of something that’s clearly not working. We’d rather suffer in silence than raise a big deal in trying to alter the status quo, and I can’t answer you why. It’s our life, and we have a right to make ourselves happy. That’s where EAT PRAY LOVE really succeeds both as a film and as a story, by presenting us with a character who the average person can live that fantasy of change through vicariously.

Elizabeth Gilbert is complex. About the only thing simple about her is that she’s a writer, but beyond that, she is someone who has made major choices in her life, choices that greatly affect others. She married her husband Steven after a relatively short courtship, and that was a mistake. Steven is the kind of guy who changes his dream of a career every… well, he probably just changed it about 4 times since the start of this sentence, and he thinks it’s hilarious to change a romantic 1st dance as a couple at a wedding reception into an opportunity to bust out with some Kool & The Gang. Fairly quickly, you can tell this marriage was a poor choice, but Liz is able to realize this and try to change that. This is where the trickiness of Liz comes into play, and where the character is sure to divide audiences. Many would say that Liz chose to get married and took vows, and, as a result, she should enter into some sort of counseling with Steven, agree to put forth the effort to work on their marriage, correcting the issues they may have with one another and moving forward on the promises they made to each other. On the other hand, others will say that Liz has every right to go out and make herself happy, and she shouldn’t waste her time trying to make nice with Steven, if she knows this isn’t it, whatever vows they made be damned. It’s a selfish perspective, and one that leaves heartbreak in its wake, but, when it comes to ourselves and to our happiness, don’t we have some freedom to go out and be selfish?

Where you stand on those questions is really going to decide how you feel about EAT PRAY LOVE, and it’s a very grey area to come up with a black or white answer. After considering those questions, I can see the value in either argument, and, unless you’re thrown in the center of such a scenario, there’s no way to know how you would react, what you would choose. But leave it to the acting talents of Julia Roberts to help you in your decision-making. Elizabeth Gilbert isn’t an instant likable person at all. In fact, just by laying out the choices as I have, you could easily consider Elizabeth Gilbert a heartless bitch, who only cares about herself… and to a point, she is. But Julia Roberts brings such vulnerability to the character that you want to see her find herself, find what she is looking for within herself that will lead to her happiness, because you find yourself wanting happiness for yourself within her.

EAT PRAY LOVE really comes down to an ideological and philosophical belief system when it comes down to it. I can talk all about director Ryan Murphy’s ability to capture the deliciousness of a plate of spaghetti drenched in sauce, presenting a food and wine orgy during the film’s stops in Italy, or the way he makes the various locations in Italy, India, or Bali look so grand that you feel like you’re just watching the Travel Channel on the big screen. I can bring up the various characters Elizabeth meets along her trip, who help her rediscover who she is and what she wants out of life, like her small group of friends in Italy who help her understand and appreciate the culture, or Richard from Texas (Richard Jenkins who has done far better work than this irritatingly obnoxious character with a sad backstory), or Felipe (Javier Bardem) as the man who teaches her that it’s okay to open your heart to love again.

However, what’s at the core of EAT PRAY LOVE is how far you would be willing to go in order to find your balance, to find pleasure and enjoyment in your life. Not everyone can just decide to pack up, and leave things behind for a year, in order to travel the world, eating, exploring spirituality, and trying to find the answers. Elizabeth Gilbert had both the courage and the stupidity to do so, and just like the JetBlue flight attendant who went apeshit in quitting his job, this is your chance to live out the fantasy.

I found EAT PRAY LOVE to deliver some strong positive messages about what it means to find balance in your life, as well as what it means to forgive yourself for past mistakes. There are also optimistic feelings conveyed about people taking care of people, and a biting criticism on Americans’ inability to find pleasure instead of entertainment. In that respect, EAT PRAY LOVE may get a bit preachy at times, but, considering its targets are very much on-point, it makes the sermon far more meaningful.

EAT PRAY LOVE is less about its story and far more about its message. How you respond to that message will determine your position on the film. The Kidd found Julia Roberts to bring her usual magic to the role, lending her likability to a character that could easily be viewed as running away from her problems to find solutions that may not exist. After all, what does it mean to truly be happy, and is there a sure way to get there? And, because of Roberts, you’ll find yourself drawn to Elizabeth Gilbert and her journey for rediscovery. At some point, we all have questions about who we are, what we’re doing here, why we’re doing what we’re doing. We have doubts and wonders about our lots in life, and EAT PRAY LOVE may not have the answers to your questions, but it does offer up an empowering perspective that it’s okay to admit things are wrong and go about changing them rather than the alternative of burying your head in the sand, pretending everything is okay, and continuing on in a depressed state. If you side with Elizabeth Gilbert, then, by all means, check out EAT PRAY LOVE, because, without having to shirk your everyday responsibilities, it will at least allow you a bit of time and guidance for you to re-examine yourself. If you’re not with her though, you might want to stick with seeing something else, because with your different set of values, you’re just not going to get it. If you’re open to hearing both sides of the argument, much like The Kidd, then I would absolutely recommend EAT PRAY LOVE. Once again, it’s not about the story. It’s about the thought-provoking discussion that runs through it.

Tags: eat pray love • julia roberts • movie reviews • The Kidd Vs