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EAT PRAY LOVEMovie Reviews
Drama about a woman who switches gears in life and after a painful divorce travels to Italy, India and Bali to experience everything life has to offer. Cast:Julia Roberts, James Franco, Javier Bardem, Richard Jenkins, Billy CrudupDirector:Ryan MurphyRelease Date:August 13, 2010DVD Release:November 23, 2010From:Sony PicturesRating:PG-13Length:2 hr 13 min
Eat Pray Love played to good not great reviews. • Betsy Sharkey wrote in the Los Angeles Times, "There will be tears. Happy tears, sad tears, tears of relief, tears of regret, gut-wrenching sobs, really almost any variation imaginable..." • And Adam Graham wrote in the Detroit News, "...positions itself as a different kind of chick flick, but ultimately it's just another Hollywood fairy tale." More Reviews Below...
Eat Pray Love Positive Reviews (50 Reviews, reviews below)
Alynda Wheat, People: VERY GOOD(cg) "Roberts is buoyant in the Italian scenes, relatable in India and enviable in Bali. By the end, her Liz is actually likable -- even to someone who hated the book."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 214 words, 08/12/10
Mary Pols, Time: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...hardly the playful frolic you'd hope for from Ryan Murphy, whose 'Glee' is often 42 of the most joyous minutes on television. But Gilbert devotees should be thrilled..."(See all of Mary Pols's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,144 words, 08/13/10
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "If only Roberts' warmth, coupled with Javier Bardem's scruffy sexiness as Felipe, were enough to compensate for the folded-map flatness of this production."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 754 words, 08/13/10
Claudia Puig, USA Today: MODERATE(cg) "...thin... Roberts is often charming but the film spends too much time in long close-ups of her troubled face. A little navel-gazing goes a long way."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 461 words, 08/13/10
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (13 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...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."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,036 words, 08/13/10
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "There will be tears. Happy tears, sad tears, tears of relief, tears of regret, gut-wrenching sobs, really almost any variation imaginable..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 926 words, 08/13/10
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: WEAK(cg) "...a very shallow, very glossy 2½-hour travelogue starring a miscast Julia Roberts as a spoiled, self-centered divorcée... Even chicks won't dig this..."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 663 words, 08/13/10
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: MODERATE(cg) "...the breezy prose, the relentless sorting-through of dissatisfactions, a steady stream of intriguing sights... a travelogue with a little spiritual questing on the side."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 533 words, 08/13/10
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: POOR "Ryan Murphy has an agreeable camp sensibility, but when he sets out to direct a 'woman's picture' and play it straight, the results are stupefying."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 579 words, 08/16/10
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: FAIR "...delivers a sensory overload... viewers experience the rush of self-improvement without having to do any of the work. I cried. Mission accomplished?"(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 241 words, 08/11/10
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: MODERATE(cg) "...that's Hollywood for you, the great reducer of all things meaningful.... Ryan Murphy's managed to remove more than just the commas from a book that deserves better."(See all of Peter Howell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 970 words, 08/13/10
Jennie Punter, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE(cg) "...like an overstuffed lightweight suitcase, with little room for us to feel the emotional connections Liz makes with new friends along the way."(See all of Jennie Punter's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 604 words, 08/13/10
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: WEAK(cg) "Roberts spends the whole movie alternating between pensive gazes and big, life-embracing laughter... a profoundly monotonous travelogue..."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 204 words, 08/12/10
KEY CITIES (16 Reviews)
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...settles into its own cinematic destiny as an attractive escapist love story, in which the romance is more with the I than with the guy."(See all of Ann Hornaday's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 650 words, 08/13/10
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...the film is a glorious travelogue, a charmer. But it lacks the resonances of Gilbert's book.... Lives are messy. A little mess in the movie wouldn't have hurt at all."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 745 words, 08/13/10
Mick LaSalle, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: VERY GOOD(cg) "It's about something important, the search for meaning and happiness, about finding one's inner life amid the clutter and confusion of modern existence."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 662 words, 08/13/10
Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: EXCELLENT(cg) "...as a newbie to the phenomenon, a film critic with an X and Y chromosome, I got caught up in the modern sensibility of this rare female quest movie."(See all of Chris Vognar's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 578 words, 08/13/10
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: VERY GOOD(cg) "It's hard to beat the ecstasy of seeing America's greatest working movie star blissfully -- not to mention, bravely -- shove that meal in her mouth."(See all of Wesley Morris's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,140 words, 08/13/10
Clint O'Connor, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Gilbert's phenomenally popular memoir was funny, insightful, and well-written. Amazingly, so is the movie.... Watch this movie; gain 10 pounds."(See all of Clint O'Connor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 503 words, 08/13/10
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: MODERATE(cg) "...mostly a slog; never giving us a compelling reason why its heroine does what she does, or how she became quite so tiresomely self-absorbed."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 524 words, 08/13/10
Gail Pennington, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "What makes it frustrating is Roberts' complete lack of chemistry with any of the men who play her lovers: Billy Crudup... James Franco... Javier Bardem..."(See all of Gail Pennington's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 584 words, 08/13/10
Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: VERY GOOD(cg) "...far from perfect, but it's likely to inspire more than few quests for balance -- or at least a fabulous bowl of linguine."(See all of Connie Ogle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 516 words, 08/13/10
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (9 Reviews)
Karina Longworth, Village Voice/LA Weekly: FAIR "...delivers a sensory overload... viewers experience the rush of self-improvement without having to do any of the work. I cried. Mission accomplished?"(See all of Karina Longworth's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 241 words, 08/11/10
Betsy Sherman, Boston Phoenix: WEAK(cg) "...a superficial globetrot in which pretty people talk about Hard Truths in pretty locations.... the overriding romance is the camera's love affair with Julia Roberts."(See all of Betsy Sherman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 161 words, 08/12/10
Tasha Robinson, AV Club: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Trouble is, most of the major changes took place inside her head and heart, which makes her story a natural fit for a book, but an awkward one for a film."(See all of Tasha Robinson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 430 words, 08/12/10
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: WEAK(cg) "Roberts spends the whole movie alternating between pensive gazes and big, life-embracing laughter... a profoundly monotonous travelogue..."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 204 words, 08/12/10
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: EXCELLENT(cg) "This is an absolutely astonishing place for a mainstream movie to go, to concede that No, having a man is not, cannot be the extent of a woman's ambitions."(See all of MaryAnn Johanson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 988 words, 08/13/10
HIGHBROW PRESS (6 Reviews)
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: WEAK "...the extravagantly external -- glossy cinematography by Robert Richardson -- and cloyingly earnest quest of a woman in deep distress."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 581 words, 08/13/10
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...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."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,036 words, 08/13/10
David Denby, New Yorker: MODERATE "...dribbles on for an eternity, sometimes intelligently and companionably, sometimes vacuously.... ends as a conventional romantic story."(See all of David Denby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,537 words, 08/23/10
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "There will be tears. Happy tears, sad tears, tears of relief, tears of regret, gut-wrenching sobs, really almost any variation imaginable..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 926 words, 08/13/10
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: WEAK "...we find it almost impossible to talk seriously about the pervasive emotional or spiritual or psychological yearning that a story like this represents..."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,190 words, 08/12/10
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "There will be tears. Happy tears, sad tears, tears of relief, tears of regret, gut-wrenching sobs, really almost any variation imaginable..."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 926 words, 08/13/10
A.O. Scott, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...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."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,036 words, 08/13/10
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: WEAK "...the extravagantly external -- glossy cinematography by Robert Richardson -- and cloyingly earnest quest of a woman in deep distress."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 581 words, 08/13/10
17.8 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Eat Pray Love's reviews are separated by an average 17.8 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Eat Pray Love (50 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Eat Pray Love's reviews cover 90.3% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 32,986 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 660 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 1.2 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Eat Pray Love's reviews on average broke 1.2 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Eat Pray Love's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Eat Pray Love (50 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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