The Passionistas

Last week Chuck D went off on one while describing his disgust for the music industry and this week, fellow blogger, Wendi B Writes talked about the demise of the industry and frankly how boring it is. However, it is not just the music business that seems to be dying a slow and painful death the film industry is not looking any better either. There is a famous saying that there are only ten original scripts in Hollywood which are recycled year in year out  and add that to practically every book and vintage TV series being turned into a movie then this all adds up to a creatively dire film scene. Despite all this nothing gets my goat than an actor, writer or singer (or all three)  who decides to embark on a passion project. A passion project is a book or TV show that an actor or writer falls in love with, snaps up the rights quickly and then appoints themselves as producer or director. This means that they have a say on the casting and the script and pretty much everything else. It is beautiful to see a person fulfilling their potential and getting out of their comfort zone but when is too much too much? The danger with passion projects is that they too often turn into an act of vanity and cause the person in charge to lose all sense of reason.

Take Terry McMillan, the film adaptation of Waiting to Exhale was superb but sadly her second adaptation, How Stella Got Her Groove Back was not. Why? Well simply because Forest Whitaker directed the film and exercised his critical eye to edit out all the crap but with How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Terry McMillan was a bit more involved and let's say her passion led her astray and what we ended up with was a self indulgent movie that overstayed it's time. My most memorable passion moment was having to endure Drew Barrymore in Charlies Angels. Now I like Drew and I admire her for the way she has rebuilt her career since her drinking and drug days. But seriously do you really think she would have got that role in Charlie"s Angels if she did not own the rights to the film which she produced under Flower Films  - her production company? The same air of delusions of grandeur applies to Queen Latifah. in Just Wright (read a review of the film). She plays Leslie Wright who is the best friend of Morgan played by Paula Patton, a sexy basketball groupie who has her eye on NBA star Scott McKnight played by Common. When Scott is injured Morgan runs out on him and Leslie and Scott get closer. Then Morgan comes back leaving Scott to choose between the two ladies. Guess who wins? Yep, Leslie does which led to a lot of laughter in the cinema because in real life we all know that would have never happened. But hey when you are the joint owner of the production company behind the film then your character can end up with any guy you damm well please.

Passion projects don"t just have to be carried out by actors, those behind the screen can be just as lethal. Brad Pitt was so in love with the memoirs of Elizabeth Gilbert that he decided that he had to turn the blockbuster Eat, Pray, Love into a film (read the review here). No surprise there as a lot of successful books have been made into films (some more better than others) but to me Pitt got too ahead of himself by persuading Julia Roberts to play the lead role. I have not got round to reading Eat, Pray, Love but a lot of people have told me how great the book is and what an impact it made on their lives. This film really had the potential to be a really insightful and moving piece of work but what we ended up with was a glorified, pretentious chick flick trying to be all deep. The main problem with the film was the lead character - a film like that needed an actress who could throw herself into the role and let it take over her. To me Julia Roberts was all wrong because the movie became all about her and not the message that was being conveyed. However there are times when passion projects can be very successful hence Charlize Theron with the mega hit film, Monster which she co-produced and earned herself a Golden Globe and Oscar in the process. Sometimes passion projects do work but you need to keep your head in tact. The next passion project that I have my eye on is Getting Rid of Matthew by Jennifer Aniston. The book was written by Jane Fallon and is about a PR lady who in embroiled in a love affair with a married man. Jennifer bought the rights of the book two years ago and is producing it with her Kristin Hahn with whom she has set up a production company with. Watch this space.

The picture at the top is of Drew Barrymore at her offices of her production company, Flower Films.

Eat Pray Love

Liz played by Julia Roberts is suffering from a year of discontent; unhappy in her eight year marriage and uninspired by her life she is having some sort of a crisis. After leaving her distraught husband, Steven played by Billy Crudup and ending a doomed rebound affair with a young actor she decides to take stock of her life. Liz decides to take a year out (as you do) to travel to Italy, India and Bali in order to find herself. What a cliche eh? Well keep reading because the cliches keep coming thick and fast. In Italy Liz quickly makes friends with Sofi played by Tuva Novotny, a sassy Swede who has been in Rome for six weeks. She is introduced to the Italian way of life and spends many a time gorging pizzas and pasta dishes. Then she moves onto India where she spends most of her time praying  in an ashram and meets up with Richard played by Richard Jenkins, the worldly, wise and slightly tragic Texan who teaches her to treasure life. Pretty soon, in fact before you can blink Julia is in Bali and exploring the tranquality of the place. It is here where she meets Felipe played by Javier Bardem who is a free spirited Brazillian. The two are drawn to each other and predictably have a love affair. However, Felipe is serious about Julia and wants to settle down with her but is she brave enough to take the jump?

First of all I would like to point out that I have not read the book; it is on my TBR pile so I have nothing to compare it to. I would also like to point out that I was vey miffed about Julia Roberts playing the lead part. I am really no Roberts fan and apart from Erin Brockovich, Julia Roberts only seems capable of playing Julia Roberts. I really wish Hollywood had had the guts to get a unknown actress to play the part. Secondly I found the movie to be one big cliche - unhappy woman jacks in job and marriage to travel round the world. How many times have we heard that? Alas Eat Pray Love had nothing else to add to the story. I did like the scenes in Italy as it showed Italian culture and Liz emersing herself in the country and bonding with her tribe. However the scenes in india and Bali left me cold. I found them quite patronising. Alarmingly, a lot of the scenes in the book made no sense such as why two women in their 30s who are eating their way round Italy would be squeezing themselves into skinny jeans. Why not buy a pair that fit? These are fully grown women not teenagers. Also there is no inclination about Liz's career as an author and how successful she was before she took off on her travels. I mean she had written successful plays as well as the script for the film Coyote Ugly. Thirdly and more importantly I found it hard to relate to Liz, she just seemed so blah - I did not hate her but she just irritated me. For me to get into a film I really need to buy into the main character but I could not empahaise with Liz at all. This is mostly due to the fact there was no back story about the protagonist.

The whole point of a book, play or film is to see the main character go through a rites of passage and come out of the other end a different person. Liz did not seem to change at all. She just seem to go from man to man and not learning very much at all. The cinematograpjy was beautiful and Italy and Bali looked sumptous on the screen but then considering the budget it shouldn't look anything else. Eat Pray Love is yet another example of Hollywood's brand extention where they tap into an established market and produce a film that is nothing more than glorified chick flick. If this is what you are after then you will enjoy it, if you are looking for something more substantial then I would really not bother. I spent the last 60 minutes praying it would end soon. 

Eat Pray Love is out in all UK cinemas now.