This is the weekend boyfriends have feared. It’s time for “Eat Pray Love.” Starring Julia Roberts and based on the best-selling memoir, the film focuses on one woman’s soul-searching journey through Italy, India, and Bali. It’s fair to say that the hype has been heavy, and reviewers are starting to chime in with their thoughts.
Let’s start with the good. A.O. Scott of The New York Times gives “Eat Pray Love” a strong review. He writes, “The film offers an easygoing and generous blend of wish fulfillment, vicarious luxury, wry humor and spiritual uplift, with a star, Julia Roberts, who elicits both envy and empathy.” True, it’s “unlikely to change anybody’s life,” but viewers are likely to “smile.”
The Boston Globe’s Wesley Morris had a similar experience. He gives the movie 3 out of 4 stars and writes that “Roberts shines” in her role “as a divorcee on a journey to find herself.” Mr. Morris writes, “The movie dials back both the book’s self-congratulation and its sense of unhappiness.” We’re pretty sure that’s a good thing.
But not everybody enjoyed the trip. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gives the flick a modest 2-star review. He calls it “shameless wish-fulfillment” and goes on to compare the movie to “a Harlequin novel crossed with a mystic travelogue.” Claudia Puig of USA Today writes that Julia’s journey “feels like a rich girl gone slumming.”
Indeed, critics are split on Ms. Roberts. However, nearly everybody is nuts about character actor Richard Jenkins, who plays a fellow traveler (conveniently, he’s named Richard) on the road to enlightenment.
Mr. Jenkins is one of those actors who people instantly recognize when they see him, but may struggle to remember what he’s been in. Allow us to help. He’s most famous for his role in “Six Feet Under” and he was recently nominated for an Oscar for his role in “The Visitor.”
Mr. Ebert calls Richard “without question the most interesting and attractive man in the movie.” Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune calls Jenkins “as reliable a character actor we have in movies today.” Mr. Phillips gave particular props to a scene in which Jenkins explains his “grim story of what brought him to India.”
Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Schwarzbaum is just “meh” on the movie (she gives it a “C+”), but goes out of her way to praise Jenkins, not just for his performance, but also for his ability to bring out “Roberts’ best work.” Of all the film’s characters, it’s Jenkins who is the “man worth circling the globe to spend time with.”
Online critic James Berardinelli sums it up like this: “Roberts does her best to make [the main character] Liz appealing, but it’s a losing battle.” However, “the scene in which Richard conveys his sad history represents the best five minutes in the movie.” He adds, “Nothing else comes close.”
Also opening in theaters…
Rather not join Julia for a trip around the world? Fret not, for there are other destinations worth noting. “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” starring Michael Cera, is earning strong reviews. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone calls the film, based on a series of graphic novels about a 20-something slacker who must defeat his lady friend’s seven evil exes in order to win her heart, “a breathless rush of a movie that jumps off the screen, spins your head around and then stealthily works its way into your heart.” Owen Gleiberman calls it “a true original” and Ty Burr of the Boston Globe notes that it is “packed with characters and likable actors.”
“The Expendables” brings together Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, Mickey Rourke, and more for an over-the-top action film guaranteed to satisfy your need for explosions and corny one-liners. Ty Burr of The Boston Globe says it’s “reprehensible” and “stoopid violent,” but it’s also “a lot of unholy fun.” Owen Gleiberman is also singing the film’s praises. “It’s a completely low-tech, brute-force movie, a real meathead jamboree.” He means that in a good way, but some think the film falls short of its potential. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gives it just two out of four stars. It’s “sorta fun,” he writes, “but it shoulda
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