Review: "Eat Pray Love" is Chicken Soup for the Soul

By KARINA MITCHELL

NEW YORK (CBS) Have no time for an exotic vacation this summer?

On a steamy day in August, the best alternative to a pampered getaway might be to indulge yourself vicariously in Elizabeth Gilbert's journey of self discovery.

"Eat Pray Love", the New York Times bestselling adaptation of Gilbert's Oprah-endorsed memoir, offers a buffet of goodies - personal bliss, spiritual contentment and a relationship with the best looking pasta you're likely to encounter in your life.

It's all seen through the eyes of Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts.

Roberts plays Liz Gilbert, a writer living in New York, who finds herself at a crossroads. After a painful divorce from an unsupportive husband, played by Billy Crudup, she decides to take a year off and tour the world. Included in her sabbatical are stops in Rome to nourish her body, in India to feed her soul and finally, in Bali, where she finds true love with fellow Oscar winner Javier Bardem, playing a man who has recently gone through a bitter break-up of his own.

Roberts says she was a fan of the book before it ever became a bestseller. "I'm always determined not to like something or like it better than anyone else. When I heard about this book, I didn't wait for the buzz. I bought two copies and sent one to my best friend in Chicago. I said, 'This seems special. Let's read it together.'"

So when director Ryan Murphy ("Glee") asked her to play the lead, she was already very familiar with the story and the character. Roberts says she held off meeting the real Gilbert until well after filming had begun, so she wouldn't be swayed by her character or mannerisms.

Murphy does a fine job in getting at the spirit of Gilbert's book, with breathtakingly vibrant location shots, colorful costumes and close-ups of food that testify to the love affair Gilbert develops with Italy's waist-expanding pizza and pasta.

In India, Richard Jenkins excels as a rough-edged, philosophy-spouting sweetheart, whom Gilbert meets at an ashram, a contrast to the fiery relationship she later develops with Bardem in Bali.

What's missing from this film is the scene that sets the stage for Gilbert's soul-searching odyssey in the first place. Murphy and Roberts fail to take enough time in the beginning to capture the emotional craving that was missing in Gilbert's life.

Roberts now happily married to Danny Moder, is no stranger to relationships gone sour. She has broken relationships with Benjamin Bratt, Kiefer Sutherland and Dylan McDermott and a divorce from Lyle Lovett in her past. Clearly, she has reserves to draw on, to show the need that Gilbert and so many other women have to find the "perfect" relationship that will fulfill them.

Where Roberts does shine is in portraying Gilbert's discovery of herself. There is an aura of light that seems to surround her and her magical laugh as she proceeds on her evolutionary journey. It's mesmerizing.

And on a hot summer's day, it might certainly satisfy a longing to be transported away to an idyllic locale. It may not be a banquet, but "Eat Pray Love" is definitely chicken soup for the soul.