Javier Bardem and Julia Roberts in 'Eat Pray Love'
The soft golden light of heaven shines down upon Julia Roberts. For 133 freakin’ minutes.
Amounting to nothing more than pious platitudes for people of privilege, Ryan Murphy’s Eat Pray Love is the kind of movie that gives spiritual anomie a bad name.
It’s a magical mystery tour, a mathematical print by M. C. Escher, a family drama, and a suspense thriller, all wrapped up in one huge, dazzling package. It’s Inception, and it may blow your mind.
Or it may not. Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to The Dark Knight is strikingly reminiscent of The Prestige, his follow-up to Batman Begins. Filled with puzzles, populated with good actors, and hiding much of its intellectual heft beneath its distracting surfaces (like the iceberg in Titanic), the movie is challenging but not revolutionary. It feels like an extended, exhilarating roller-coaster ride that slows now and again, allowing time to think about the distance that’s been covered, and to take a quick peek ahead.