Eat, Pray, Love Trailer: Maybe Magical, Maybe Just Annoying

The trailer for the movie, out in August, features lush and beautiful landscapes, peopled by a wise Balinese man, a sad-looking Billy Crudup, a devoted James Franco, and a black best friend. But sorry, gang — Javier Bardem is in this movie too. Mm-hmm.

As Sadie put it in her review of Committed:

Elizabeth Gilbert is an easy target. Ever since Eat, Pray, Love, she’s been a byword for a certain kind of navel-gazing modern entitlement that cherry-picks from cultures and spiritual traditions in a quest for self-fulfillment. Yet the phenomenal success of that book shows Gilbert was onto something — or at least that she’s a likable enough writer that she can get away with a lot.

In the absence of the Gilbert’s self-aware writing that charmed so many people, will this movie come off as even more privileged and self-indulgent than Gilbert’s critics alleged her book was? Or is it enough — or maybe even more fun — to actually visit these places onscreen with some of Hollywood’s most attractive stars? If anyone can convey charm, it’s Julia Roberts.

Earlier: You Will Hate Elizabeth Gilbert For Making You Love Eat, Pray, Love
Committed: In Which Elizabeth Gilbert Wrestles With More First World Problems In The Third World
Did Eat Pray Love Sell Millions Because Elizabeth Gilbert Cheated On Her Husband?
Eat Pray Love Author Talks To Guardian, Engages Gag Reflex