(USA, 2010, 133 mins)

"Eat Pray Love" – the holy trinity of elements that, when balanced equally, bring happiness to any individual. Or so Elizabeth Gilbert is trying to have us believe. 

Meet Liz Gilbert – just another woman in her thirties who got married too young and has to suffer a difficult divorce that thrusts her into a love affair with a younger man before deciding that she’s still unhappy. Throw in a treasure box of cutout travel articles and a best friend who delivers fabulous advice in convenient one-liners, and Liz makes the oh-so-spontaneous decision to leave for a year, and travel to Italy, India and Bali, all on her lonesome (and isn’t she just so brave and heroic in doing so?!).

Cue a journey dotted with moments of “Liz, you need a man”, “Liz, are you married?”, “Liz, why aren’t you married, what did you do”…you get the idea. For a woman setting out on a quest to find her own identity, there sure are a lot of references and flashbacks of the men in her life, how she doesn’t need a man, and yet, all she really wants is a man (no matter what she tries to make you believe).

The exquisite scenery is a visual treat, and the film invites the audience to utilize their other senses. When Liz is in Italy on her carb-filled indulgence, it’s hard not to find yourself salivating at the sight of the delicacies or feel a pull towards the ancient romantic history of Rome. In India, we are supposed to empathize with Liz’s frustration at being unable to switch of her mind and meditate, and of course, how can any film featuring India not have a standard allusion to arranged marriage (seriously folks, there really is more to the subcontinent than slumdogs and arranged marriages). In Bali, we can almost feel the warm balmy exotic heat in the midst of a vibrant culture.

The tear-jerking moments surprisingly don’t come from Roberts, but rather from the strong men she meets, who get emotional when talking about their families and children. Watching Richard Jenkins and Javier Bardem break down had every woman in the theater sighing and sniffling. The uplifting moments came during Liz’s reveling of gelato on her own outside the Vatican or cycling through Bali with her hair flying in the wind, or even finding a rogue elephant and befriending it, along with all the other random eccentric friends she picks up along the way. 

Julia Roberts and her trademark smile are perhaps the perfect choice to play Liz Gilbert, as she can play an affable single woman without appearing too pathetic. Her relationship with Ketut (Hadi Subiyanto), a quirky old Balinese medicine man is endearing, and her fundraising efforts for Wayan and Tutti are heart-warming. Director Ryan Murphy (of “Glee” fame) makes sure to draw emphasis on the film’s fuzzy moments that detract from the bigger questions, and the overall tale is meant to be a feel-good indulgence-fest for women all over (I really can’t imagine this film appealing to anyone with a ‘y’ chromosome, but I could be wrong). 

My frustration with "Eat Pray Love" is the seemingly “love thyself” message. While women of all ages will watch this and find that they can relate to some part of it, the movie fails to provide a strong message for its audience. Like “Sex and The City”, the film’s somewhat feminist message is littered with failure. Failed marriages, failed relationships and failed self-respect are the catalyst for Liz’s journey, and she has to take a very expensive trip across the world in order to discover that she needs to put herself first and that she can indeed, be on her own if she needs to. Or maybe I’m just a little too cynical for this “love me” overkill. 

Verdict: Rent it.

Rating: 3/5

To reach Entertainment Editor Piya Sinha-Roy, click here.

Follow Piya Sinha-Roy on Twitter @PiyaSRoy.