Instead, the picture intends on cramming in as many vignettes illustrating the full extent of the nationwide movement regarding mindfulness that can possibly fit into its 100-minute running time, resulting in a glib and repetitive informercial that pulls off the tricky feat of simultaneously feeling too short and interminable. Had the film been comprised solely of these four parallel narrative threads, juxtaposing how each person’s life was profoundly transformed by meditation, resulting in Harris devising the popular Ten Percent Happier franchise (complete with a book, podcast and app) and Mumford teaching the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers mindfulness (ultimately leading both teams to multiple world championships), Beemer might’ve had something special here.
Then we’re tossed into Chapter One of George Mumford’s life story, one that he barely has time to discuss (his promising basketball career was cut short by an injury, leading him to get hooked on pain medication) before the film cuts to the first chapter of Salzberg’s story. After breezing far too quickly through Jewel’s story, which joins her talking head interview with grainy recreations of a faceless girl wandering the streets of San Diego, we suddenly jump ahead to Chapter One of Dan Harris’ story about having a panic attack on live television after “self-medicating” with cocaine and ecstasy. The first red flag occurs early on, as a title card informs us that we are entering the first chapter of Jewel’s Journey, detailing how Jewel Kilcher’s rise from homeless youth to successful singer/songwriter was enhanced by her achieving an inner peace about her present experience-in others words, mindfulness.
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