Julia Roberts Talking About Being Too Fat

It’s hard to pick a least favorite moment of “Eat Pray Love.” Cause I hated so many of them.
But if pressed, I would go with the scene where she and another gorgeous woman chat about how they are both developing “muffin tops” during their trip to Italy. In this particular monstrosity of a scene, Roberts advises against worrying about weight and going ahead and eating the pizza and the pasta and Italy’s other great culinary gifts. She tells her pal and the rest of us that they will go out later and buy “big lady” jeans. I think that was the comment. Then, unfortunately, we get to see that scene . . . complete with Julia struggling to get into a pair of jeans.
So wrong on so many levels.
First of all, there should be a Constitutional amendment against Julia Roberts talking about being too fat. She’s basically skeletal. Second, she’s making the argument that she does not care about the weight gain or needing bigger pants and then she’s out struggling to get into jeans that are too small. Why the struggle, when the God-awful script just had her saying that the pizza was worth the bigger size? Sorry. My fault for paying attention to any of the words spoken here. Third, there’s an obesity epidemic going on and it’s jarring—it takes the audience out of the movie, way out—to listen to Julia Roberts talk about being too fat. Which takes me back to the Constitutional amendment.
I had read that this was a bad part of a bad movie. Probably right on both counts. Although I did like Richard Jenkins in his one big scene, where he basically gave a lesson in how to steal a film, and I liked Javier Bardem in everything he did, wherein he basically gave a lesson in how to be hot. Viola Davis was the wry, wise best friend, who was right to worry about whether any of this particular trip was necessary. I would have been happier if we had stayed with Davis in the city, seeing up close what it's like to juggle with good humor a job and a mate. Not as scenic as what "Eat Pray Love" offers us, but probably in the long run more useful.

Go Ahead, Make My Month

Clint Eastwood could make staying in the city in July seem like the smarter choice.
At least some of us were feeling better about being here after reading the lineup of films that are part of “The Complete Clint Eastwood,” a comprehensive series at The Film Society of Lincoln Center. It turns out that the Walter Reade Theater is playing host to all the films that Eastwood has directed (at least so far), starting last week and continuing through July 27.
I hopped onto my beloved M5 bus and went downtown a couple of hours ago to catch “Play Misty for Me,” which was the first movie that Eastwood directed and is basically an earlier version of “Fatal Attraction.”
This time around Jessica Walter got to play the crazy broad who mistook sex for love. Eastwood cares more for Donna Mills, although it’s hard to see why in this particular context. There are some fine performances by supporting players in the movie, which holds up during the scary parts as decent popular entertainment. The movie, though, is most interesting in the way it represents interests Eastwood would explore in different ways in the years to come, like music and how music plays, literally and figuratively, in the movies. It’s also fascinating to see that two of the African-American actors in the movie, playing smaller roles, seem more three-dimensional in their performances than Eastwood or Mills do in leading parts.
There’s lots more coming. I’m interested to see if “Unforgiven” from 1992 was as good as I thought it was back then. I remember believing it really deserved the Best Picture Oscar that the movie nabbed. Others worth investigating: “A Perfect World” on July 20 and “Million Dollar Baby” on July 25 and “The Bridges of Madison County” on July 21. In the latter, Meryl Streep gives a great performance. Which is not exactly breaking news.
It’s good to have Eastwood’s films on view, especially in such a comprehensive way and in such a respected forum. He’s been such a pop culture icon for so long that it’s sometimes easy to forget that he’s a filmmaker with such a stellar record.