The movie is as insipid as the book, but faster, and with some nice cinematography.
Actually, what made me curious was the comments here saying that Gilbert cheated on her husband, because I didn't recall cheating from the part of the book that I read. And after seeing the movie I still don't see how she cheated. (Spoiler alert coming up, not that there's much to spoil.) She had told her husband she wanted a divorce and they were living separately before she got involved with the yogi from Yonkers. At least, that's how it went down in the movie. Was it different in the book? Those of you who say she cheated, is that because she wasn't legally divorced yet? I guess I don't see the legal technicality as constituting cheating. Does it suck for the husband? Absolutely, but, well, all's fair in love and war. Was she supposed to stay when she knew they would both be unhappy if she did?
The relationship part isn't what bothers me about the Eat, Pray, Love phenomenon. And it's not that she traveled (though I'm jealous that she had all expenses paid), because I think travel is a great way to gain perspective and broaden horizons. Cognitive Dissenter hit it on the head when she described the book as staged. That's exactly how it felt to me. There's just something that feels slimy about setting out on a spiritual quest with the intent of selling a book about it. Wanting to write a book should come after the epiphanies. It feels tainted if you go looking for epiphanies so you can write books about them.
EPL is harmless enough. I just don't understand why it's so popular. But then, human beings don't all see the same things.
