If you’re looking for a great chick flick, go see “Eat Pray Love.” It’s based on the bestseller by Elizabeth Gilbert and stars Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, and James Franco. The movie follows Gilbert’s real life story of ending her marriage and finding herself again during a year of traveling to Italy, India and Bali.

Writer Liz Gilbert, meets a medicine man in Bali who tells her she will lose everything and gain it all back before she sees him again.

This sparks a realization that she doesn’t really want a family and a boring, predictable life. She wants to travel, explore and discover the most exotic places in the world.

She leaves her husband and falls promptly into the arms of a struggling actor, David, who happens to introduce her to a spiritual guru. After the relationship with David fails, she decided to devote a year to traveling the world and rediscovering herself.

She first goes to Italy and eats her way through the country. She revels in the food, the land and the language. A new set of friends become like family, and Gilbert starts to regain a sense of who she is. In India she visits the ashram of her guru and while the guru herself is not present Richard from Texas, steps into those shoes. Richard’s keen observations and sharp wit drive Gilbert crazy, but eventually help her forgive herself and heal from the divorce.

In Bali, she meets the medicine man again, and his guidance helps her find the courage to trust love. She meets Felipe, a Brazilian who sweeps her off her feet, and because she now knows who she is, she’s confident this relationship will last.

The visuals of the movie alone make it worth seeing. The colors are rich and alive; they really capture the beauty of the people and scenery in each location.

Although the dialogue felt a bit whiny at times, Gilbert’s search for healing is genuine and Richard from Texas provides some comic relief. The story is thought-provoking and makes for good conversation after the movie.

As too often with movies based on books, “Eat Pray Love” is a better book. She’s funnier, spunkier and brutally honest with her reflections about herself, the people she meets and the men she loves.

If you like the movie, read the book. You’ll love it.

‘B’

dbalagna@unews.com