Eat, Pray and Love

'm totally confused. If Eat Pray Love the movie is a faithful adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir, then why did it ever make it onto the bestsellers list? And if it's not a faithful adaptation, why isn't it? Was something lost in translation or was the source material not as strong as book sales would have us believe? The Liz Gilbert in the film version of Eat Pray Love is one of the least compelling, least interesting women we've seen as the lead figure of a movie in recent memory, and I can't figure out why women in particular are so in love with this character.
As Liz, Julia Roberts smiles a lot, cries a lot, and heads off on a journey of self-discovery (read year-long vacation from real life) after her marriage falls apart and her attempt at a lasting relationship with a much younger man fails. The character as written is so self-absorbed, unlikeable and worst of all, after a year of trying to find herself never really seems to grow as a person, that there's nothing about this successful writer (who's apparently got an abundance of money) to grab on to.

Eat Pray Love - The Story
Liz isn't happy. Her husband, Stephen (Billy Crudup), is unfocused, frequently changes jobs, and is unsure of what he wants to be when he grows up. The new house they bought just a year ago seems like a prison to Liz, and when Stephen says he wants to go back to college, she decides that's the end of her patience with him. Now, since this is done incredibly quickly in the film, it's kind of like she just gives up on marriage without much of a fight. She's done, he still loves her, but she quickly moves on to a much younger actor (played by James Franco) who's starring in a play she wrote. She sees him on stage, thinks he's saying the words only to her, and bam! - they're in a relationship. But just as quickly as she starts that up, she decides he's not for her. She's unhappy and feels dead inside, and the only way to fix herself is to take off for a year and travel.