Since I have an aversion to reading I haven't touched Elizabeth Gilbert's popular memoir on which this film is based, so I can't make that comparison, however the book did make Oprah's book list. I'm not sure whether that's necessarily a good or bad thing?! That said, I do like travelogues and I do like Julia Roberts so these were the main reasons I decided to see this film - and may even be two of the reasons why you'll consider seeing it as well.

So the plot... Liz (Roberts) is tired of having an empty life as a successful author and a husband (Crudup) who just moves from one thing to the next, so she leaves him and heads off to Italy, India and then Bali to recapture her personal balance.

There are quite a few people who didn't like this movie and admittedly some characters are pretty sketchy and it is a little long, but the movie raises some interesting questions and ends up having something to say about all of them. Roberts and Bardem are both good and of course the scenery is fantastic - so other than recommending you sit back and enjoy the view my only other suggestion is to watch it AFTER dinner, your stomach will thank you.

The simple plot, very loosely based on the classic Nathaniel Hawthorne novel "The Scarlet Letter", is that Olive Penderghast (Stone) pretends that she has had a lot of sex with a lot of guys when she is actually a virgin. This teen comedy is a cut about others of its ilk for two reasons:

it is actually funny, and

it is actually well acted (a breakthrough performance by Emma Stone, but also consistent entertainment from the excellent supporting cast).

I particularly enjoyed the performance of Patricia Clarkson in the role of Olive’s mother Rosemary, as she carefully took an offhand routine tone for this:

Rosemary: "I had a similar situation when I was your age. I had a horrible reputation."

Olive: "Why?"

Rosemary: "Because I slept with a whole bunch of people. Mostly guys."

As well as the many witty lines of dialogue, the film also satirises homophobia, hypocrisy, Christianity, homophobic hypocritical Christianity, school principles and school principals.

Finally, a rousing (and also arousing) song-and-dance number is the climax.