In this chic chick flick based on Elizabeth Gilbert's inspirational bestselling memoir, a beautiful, rather gaunt Julia Roberts goes around the world in 80 cliches after getting a divorce from her feckless husband and deciding to spend a year rediscovering herself. "Eat" is four months in Rome consuming great food, meeting lovable people and coming to enjoy guilt-free pleasure. Then it's time to "Pray", with four unironic months at an Indian ashram, discovering that "God is within you and is you". After that revelation, she moves on to "Love" in Bali, where she communes with a wise old medicine man (I first misheard this as "Madison man") and has a liberating affair with a rich. middle-aged, Brazilian hippie (Javier Bardem). The overall effect is like Shirley Valentine rewritten by the authors of Sex and the City.
Eat Pray Love
Philip French follows Julia Roberts around the world in 80 cliches