Shut up shut up shut up. Lord, was Julia Robert always this annoying? This is the new trailer for Julia’s first star-vehicle in years, Eat, Pray, Love. It’s based on the book by the same title, the one that many people thought was good or insightful or interesting or funny. Of course, the other words used to describe the book were “silly, narcissistic, hokey, a new-agey piece of trash, neo-colonialist, disastrous, cloying” and according to the NY Post, “the worst in Western fetishization of Eastern thought and culture, assured in its answers to existential dilemmas that have confounded intellects greater than hers.” We’ve already heard some bad stuff coming out of the film shoot – stuff about Julia’s 350 person entourage, how the production was basically pissing off everyone in India, and basically (but not specifically about this film) how Julia is an a-hole.
Anyway, the trailer features a glimpse of Billy Crudup, who plays Julia/Elizabeth Gilbert’s ex-husband, and James Franco, who plays her post-divorce lover. Can I stop right there? James Franco looks ten kinds of wrong with Julia. I mean, just, no. They just don’t look right together. At all.
Here’s my larger question about the alleged “spiritual journey” that this woman goes on: is she traveling with a suitcase full of fabulous clothes, a full makeup bag, a hair dryer, and a flat-iron? Because Julia manages to look fabulously “done” (in the Oprah-approved soft-lighting of what I can only imagine is “The Orient”) in every frame. UGH.
this looks awful,it sounds awful. it is awful. i read the book and it annoyed me. what a waste of money. they could have saved a country with this budget. for some reason this really irritates me, really really irritates me.
Enlightenment/Fulfillment, packaged for consumption. Sad, and unfortunately true … to the Hollywood Paradigm.
I am so glad I’m not the only one who was disappointed by the book.
Scotchy, you think that is bad. I dropped my library copy in the bathtub and then had to BUY that bloated bitch! Hated that book!
The book was…okay. At least it was sincere. There isn’t a sincere bone in Julia Robert’s body. Whatever was good about the book is going to be destroyed by her annoying ass.
@ Melanie..NOOOOOO!!!
That would have made me lose my s#$t.
Oh god. I am so sorry.
God, this looks horrible.
Cortona Italy was ruined by Frances Mayes (inadvertently) with ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ and now it’s going to be BALI.
Bali is TINY and now I’ll never go back. I hope this crapfest bombs.
I’ve had the audiobook sitting on my ipod for months now. Maybe I won’t bother!
Julia is Julia in most of her movies, I think, and I doubt this one will be any different.
Haven’t read the book, not a Julia fan, this looks ten kinds of awful (plus they nicked the Slumdog trailer song!) but…Javier Bardem? I’m in (sigh).
It could be interesting.
at the risk of being burned at the stake, i have to say….I LOVE JULIA ROBERTS. I think that I fell in love with her in Closer and it just never ended. I think that she is beautiful and talented and in every interview I find her grounded and hilarious.
With that being said, this movie does look like a steaming pile of crap-ola. Will I go see it anyway? probably. Will I already be buzzed when I get there? Definitely.
The book was so terrible I couldn’t finish it. I couldn’t stand listening to that whiney brat for another page!
Ugh.
i didnt like the book either….she sold out in the end
Eat. Pray. Love. Get culturally arseholed by patronising western bint and resultant horde of rich white tarts eager to ruin your home in the name of their own spiritual well-being.
Seriously, I need a bucket.
A friend of a friend became a millionaire during the dot-com craze. He decided to spend himself broke by taking two years to travel around the world. I think the money that I could have spent on this movie I will spend more wisely by buying him some drinks and asking him his stories.
I JUST submitted an essay for class in which we had to analyze a film, advertisement, artwork etc, and identify elements of the colonial imagination and/or Orientalism…I WISH this movie had come out earlier cause it would have been perfect for that assignment, lol
Good gawd Julia Roberts…
I read everything, but I didn’t read this because I am pretty good at sniffing out crap.
@Melanie: I can just imagine the annoyance of having to go out and buy a book you hate for the library. Am sorry for your ‘loss’ but thanks for writing about it, gave me quite a chuckle!
Even though the book has ‘me-me-me’ written all over it, I was quite annoyed to find only ‘me-me-me’ in it. My mistake. Did enjoy her description and love for good food though.
nj – me too. book is crap and the movie will be crap too.
I thought the book was annoying and it looks like the movie will be too! It’s nice to see so many of you agree.
@wtf, i think it might take more than booze to make it through this insufferable two hour nightmare.
i cannot tell you how much i loathe that book – a self absorbed nitwit trying to find meaning in her shallow life- so julia is the perfect person to be in the movie. and if one more woman at some party tells me how i just HAVE to try reading it again (the implication being i was too close minded to appreciate it the first time)i will scream bloody murder.
Thank god I’m not the only one who thought the book was ridiculous. You would think the whole world loved it the way Oprah’s audience kissed the author’s ass. Of course that should tell you something about the book right there.
Thanks Squirrel! Do you know the library won’t let you shop around for the best price to replace something? It has to be THEIR list price. Anyone want to buy a MOLDY Eat, Love Pray? I am kidding~! I threw it away!
I am SO HAPPY to hear the rest of the you thought the book was CRAP too! I agree it was all “me me me me me me”. I just wanted to scream “Get OVER yourself!”
LMAO at the library book story! that does suck. i read it because i work at a bookstore and i read pretty much everything so i can recommend things to customers. the thing that bugs me about elizabeth gilbert is she went on the trip planning to turn it into a book, so it felt manipulated for maximum story effect rather than just letting life happen. i can’t in good conscience recommend it, so for every woman who asks me about “eat pray love” i steer them towards a wonderful book called “down the nile” by rosemary mahoney.
@Melanie: That is weird, why would the library get involved if you just bring them the exact same version of a ruined book? Hm…
Regarding the styling of Roberts for the film – seems to me the quite plain looking clothes she wears privately look far more realistic than the styled versions for the film. Same goes for hair & make up. Must admit the clip makes for some beautiful pictures though (mostly of the countries which are played out in beautiful colours).
I actually saw a parody version of this title called ‘Drink, Play, F**k – One man’s search for anything across Ireland, Las Vegas and Thailand’, a fictional account by the jilted husband. Now which actor would be playing the main lead in that one….?
In that last photo you can see where she gets that full upper lip. Courtesy of a serious overbite. *Neigh*
Here’s what baffles me: Julia Roberts USED to be a pretty good actress. Back in the days of Steel Magnolias, Pretty Woman, Sleeping with the Enemy, etc., I really enjoyed watching her. But it seems to me that the second she won her Oscar, her acting ability plummeted. It just looks like she makes absolutely no effort anymore.
I don’t know why I’m responding since by most comments people will hunt me down and string me up but the trailer looks good to me. I haven’t read the book and Julia Roberts doesn’t bother me. Maybe I’m a little bit more open since people have this extreme hate of the book and/or Julia Roberts.
Snapdragon – thanks for recommending On the Nile – just put it on hold! :^)
Melanie – feel bad about your library experience – the library I work at does let you replace books with another copy – you’re still charged a processing fee tho.
Had the movie producers hired Patricia Clarkson in the role of the author, I MIGHT have considered buying a ticket for this movie. Julia Roberts? Forget it. As it is, I was mostly irritated by the author and book (got the book as an xmas present because they figured I’d like it because I had travelled). There were some elements of the book that I liked (I was initially sympathetic to someone getting caught up in a life then realizing it’s not for you and then trying to figure out what to do next), but I could never fully relate to her. She was lucky enough to have rich and connected family and friends to support her as she travelled and then wrote her book, she came off as so incredibly priviledged, and she never really suffered. Oh, at the beginning of the book, crying because she was in an unhappy marriage? Well, boo-hoo, welcome to humanity. Missy was caught up in the status rate race (husband, nice house, etc.) and realized she didn’t fit in. So what does she do, but engage in the luxury of the rich, which was to travel around the world in style (no backpacking for her) and then write a book about it. I don’t fault her for physically removing herself from the situation, which may indeed have been a bad one, but still, it smacked so much of rich white woman la-di-da, I couldn’t fully get with it. I mean, accepting yourself for who you are, ok. Personal journey and growth, ok. Having a bad relationship, ok. Having bad experiences to understand what’s good, what works, ok. But in the end, her book seemed more to appeal to wealthy dissatisfied women of a certain class (of which no, I am not – ha!). Not that I object to people being wealthy. What I object to is that kind superiority that comes in the form of “doing good for the underpriviledged” by people who would never associated with the poor in their own country. Hard to explain, maybe someone else knows what I mean. A different form of the “noble savage” type of thinking…
I loathed the book and I loathe Julia even more. I can not even begin to tell you what a phony bitch she is! So hope this movie bombs.
I’m not a fan of Julia, but I liked the book, maybe not the best I’ve ever read but there were some funny moments
I don’t get it. Someone tries to look for meaning in their life and they fail by your standards and there is no merit in the trying? There is no merit in realizing that there is more and trying to at least LOOK? It’s a cardinal sin for your experience as a person who grew up in the “West” to colour what you see in other cultures?
I’m done reading the comments on this blog. It’s a cesspool of hate and judgment. So much for being ‘enlightened.’
Is it a tourism commercial? Or is it a yoga-trainer’s wet dream?
Yes, Kaiser, she was.
ok i actually liked the book. granted i went into reading it thinking it was going to be complete trash, so the miracle of lowered expectations. i thought the end was a total cop-out mind you. BUT the writer’s extremely honest examination of herself, i thought was refreshing and brave.
i didn’t see it as a romanticized “orient” you can study other religions without romanticizing them.
that said this movie will be shit b/c it will focus on her relationships with men. and the whole point of the book is her taking her focus off of others and putting it onto herself. cheesey, yes. though it is probably something EVERYONE should do.
self examination is hard, b/c u have to be honest about your shit. that was what i liked about a lot of book. she was honest about her shit. roberts has never played a character that had any faults so i bet she will suck the only interesting parts of the book out to make a shit fest of movie. blah! there said my piece
just saw D’s post. yes i agree. you said it better than me
danielle: let me know how you like “down the nile”. as far as woman on a solo journey type books it is one of the better ones i’ve read.
You’re right Patricia Clarkson wouldve classed the movie up a bit!
I loved the Italy part of the book.
Will rent it on dvd, but wouldve watched it at the theatre if Patty starred in it.
eh
Ewwwwwwww hell no!
J Horseface Roberts has always pissed me off with her fake-cute routine. Just look into those ice-pick eyes and see the biyatch lurking within. I remember back when everyone loved her and thought she was just the greatest thing ever, simple delightful etc and I never saw it. Am glad to have lived long enough to feel vindicated now that the tide seems to have turned.
I think just having all that money and unqualified adoration would turn most people into a jerk, but this piece was one to begin with.
Hope it bombs, the whole premise is so fucking insulting and pathetic. Yuck!
I don’t like pop pap so I didn’t read it, but I see I’m not the only one who can’t stand JR.
@d- Totally understand and agree. Well said.
@snapdragon- hilarious! As I perused this book for twenty seconds the same words popped into my head- self-absorbed nitwit.
Julia Homewrecker. Nope, won’t be seeing any of her films.
Well, I adored Eat Pray Love. And note to all you trust-funder haters: the author of E-P-L is a travel writer! She gets paid to go on trips and write about it! That’s her job! She’s not some entitled, over-privileged, rich girl. She’s smart and open and not afraid to share the fact that she wants to know god. We all can learn from her.
That said, Julia Roberts was a pitiful choice for this role and I was bummed when I heard she got the part.
Sure she has some positive qualities: great legs, a killer smile (due to an unusually large mouth that guys go nuts for) and an endearing, girl-next-door screen presence. But what does any of that have to do with this story?
Worst of all, with the exception of Closer where yes, wtf, she gave a half-decent performance (thanks, no doubt, to Clive Owen who unfortunately couldn’t save her ass in the next movie they did together) Julia simply can’t act. No matter what role she plays, she always just seems like herself.
“I’m done reading the comments on this blog. It’s a cesspool of hate and judgment. So much for being ‘enlightened.’ ”
ummm….it’s a gossip blog. who did you think was writing it, the dalai lama?
so guys, stop being so harsh on this woman okay… its just a memoir after all. people are allowed to be whiny, arent they? why so much hatred? why so much anger?
of course we can’t all go on such trips but this doesn’t mean we should spend our time bashing those who do… i am sure you could all write a bestselling book talking about your own boring lives. The difference is not that she had better material–but just that she was a harder worker. is all… so plz, cut her and julia and all those who work their asses off to provide us folks with boring lives some entertainment some slack…