Draft Two - Eat Pray Love - Spoiler Alert

Yesterday I did some research for my project. Since I am writing a women's inspirational film, I went to see the biggest one to come out in a decade - EAT PRAY LOVE.

I had read the book and frankly, I wondered what Oprah was smoking. I thought the first two sections were mildly interesting. The author's self-effacing commentary about her journey was entertaining. But, the third section tipped me right out of the boat. Her quest for love seemed so precious and self-impressed I wanted to puke. Eat, Pray, Puke is what I called it.

Now, the film. Here's the interesting part. The third section, the one I hated in the book - was by far the best part of the movie. Maybe it was Mr. Sexiness Javier Bardem, well he certainly didn't hurt, but this part of the movie actually held my interest. Why?

Well, I think it's because it was the only part of the film that held any external conflict. The rest of the film was about someone's internal struggle - which of course is easier to play out on the pages of a book where the person can tell you directly about their struggle. But, on film, even if you give in to numerous monologues, not so much.

Once we got into the love affair - there was a question hanging - will she realize that this man is the one. Despite her internal conflict, we also had a weak ticking clock of her departure. We had another human being who might at any time say "Listen lady, I'm so sick of your self-absorbed nonsense, go mantra yourself."

What I really wanted to see was a movie about Phillip's journey. How much more interesting of a story. A man, despite his macho background, falls in love and plays Mr. Mom. And he's great at it, but once the kids are gone, the wife loses interest and breaks his heart. He finds himself lost on an island, trying to heal and finds love with possibly the only person more wrecked than he is. She's gorgeous, but she's a hot mess in the life department. What do you do with that? Fall into the Mommy role again? Or find a balance where you both can exist, feeding each other as equals until you create a life together that is better than it's two parts? NOW - THAT I want to see.

Good thing my own project has both external and internal conflicts. The lesson here is that seeing other similar projects can teach you things. They can teach you what you want to emulate and what you want to avoid. So, thank you, Eat Pray Love.