In most movies, one or more characters experience an arc where they learn something by the end of the show. The audience goes along for the ride and feels satisfaction at having learned along with them.
But although Eat Pray Love's main premise is for Julia Roberts' character to learn something, it's obvious, by the end of the movie, that she hasn't learned a thing. She spends a year on a path of self exploration, but in the end, sees no problem in returning to her old life. And it's not until a last-minute intervention by a brown man (the brown people in this movie are all portrayed as wise sooth sayers) that something clicks and she seems to recant her former ways. But in reality, it's just an excuse for a Hollywood ending: a man who shows up quite late in the movie (a perfect example of deus ex machina abuse) gets the girl, loses the girl, and then gets her back. Indeed, the entire movie is just an excuse to set up this trite conclusion.
Whatever learning that was supposed to take place in the preceding two hours all gets washed away, and instead of a worthwhile experience, we and Julia Roberts sail off into the sunset, all the worse for wear.
But although Eat Pray Love's main premise is for Julia Roberts' character to learn something, it's obvious, by the end of the movie, that she hasn't learned a thing. She spends a year on a path of self exploration, but in the end, sees no problem in returning to her old life. And it's not until a last-minute intervention by a brown man (the brown people in this movie are all portrayed as wise sooth sayers) that something clicks and she seems to recant her former ways. But in reality, it's just an excuse for a Hollywood ending: a man who shows up quite late in the movie (a perfect example of deus ex machina abuse) gets the girl, loses the girl, and then gets her back. Indeed, the entire movie is just an excuse to set up this trite conclusion.
Whatever learning that was supposed to take place in the preceding two hours all gets washed away, and instead of a worthwhile experience, we and Julia Roberts sail off into the sunset, all the worse for wear.