"Julie and Julia" Movie Review

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Ah summer. Its a time for big blockbuster movies and Meryl Streep. The greatest living American actress must contend with a new title box-office queen. Streep scored in summer of 2006 with The Devil Wears Prada and then in 2008 with Mamma Mia! Now, shes getting ready for a three-peat with her meaty performance in Julie and Julia.

Streep stars as Julia Child, the woman who forever changed the way America cooks and eats. But before she became a household name, Child was an American housewife living in Paris in 1948. Julie and Julia captures Childs rise to culinary fame from her humble beginnings as a student at the famous Cordon Bleu cooking school to her game-changing cooking show, The French Chef.

Meanwhile, fifty years later, we meet Julie Powell played by Amy Adams. Shes pushing 30, living in Queens, and working in a cubicle as her friends achieve stunning successes.




Julie decides to focus her energy on one crazy plan. For 365 days, shell cook all 524 recipes featured in Childs Mastering the Art of French Cooking (co-written with Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck) and write a blog about her experiences.

Writer/director Nora Ephron (Youve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle) has been inspired by two books namely Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Powell and My Life in France by Child written with Alex Prud'homme. The result is an uneven film with Childs story predictably dominating the narrative.

Similar to Streeps film The Hours, Ephron tries to connect the main characters otherwise separated by time and space. The one common denominator that holds Julie and Julia together is their passion for food.

You will feel hunger upon seeing the seemingly never-ending display of sumptuous platters such as herb-roasted chicken, butter poached Maine lobster, boeuf bourguignon, sole meuniere, and trussed chickens. But as a moviegoer, you will wish that Ephron had served a film with a balanced diet of character development and pacing.

Both Julie and Julia also share the impeccable luck of having supportive husbands. Julia has Paul (Stanley Tucci), a diplomat in the American embassy in Paris while Julie is happily married to Eric (Chris Messina). Both men empower their wives to follow their dreams.

Streep and Tucci, fresh from teaming up in The Devil Wears Prada, display undeniable chemistry. Tuccis Paul is a wide-eyed optimist who seems to be more encouraging of his wifes career than his own. I wished Ephron dropped the Julie narrative altogether and concentrated on the life and times of Julia and Paul.

Adams, perhaps knowing that Streep has a showier role, tries hard to embrace the nuances of Julie and succeeds. Even though her story is portrayed like a mash-up between Bridget Jones Diary and Sex and the City, Adams finds the necessary heart to make us care for the character.

Ultimately, the stories of both women are put under a microscope to be sliced and diced. Julia and her joie de vivre easily overpower Julies incessant cooking and blogging. And if we have to choose between the two, wed rather meet the person behind the recipes than the woman who wants to recreate them.

Ephron did not mix all the right ingredients necessary to make a film like Julie and Julia delicious. The movie lacks energy and rhythm for us to care for both stories. And its a shame since Ephron is not a stranger to making films with parallel themes such as When Harry Met Sally.

The writer-director succeeded in bringing out a splendid performance from Streep but thats not a hard thing to do. The actress shines in all of her scenes especially the ones with Jane Lynch who plays Childs sister, Dorothy McWilliams.




Streep alone is enough to recommend this movie even though theres a course missing. And lets face it; the actress, who has mastered the art of acting, is the key ingredient to brightening up our dog days of summer.




And for that, Julie and Julia gets 3 Bon Appétit! Kisses

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[yazan6560]

i still dont understand the ending of the movie

[mdelar]

What don't you understand about the ending?

[yazan6560]

@mdelar uhm just the part where it tells u that julia hates julie and was julia's story being told again or someething like that and whtasap with that museum they go to where they find the old kitchn, does that indicate that julia was deaad....lol thanx

[mdelar]

The museum scene was just to show that Julie is paying homage to Julia...and the real Julia hated Julie, she thought that the blogger was just using her name for fame and money...

[TpyoQueen]

you just boiling water. ;-)

[mdelar]

lol...yes, just for props :)

[MissNuggy]

I saw the movie twice and I love it.

Really, Meryl Streep... What can I say? She rises like the sun in this role, she even vanishes in it. I had to look a few times, if she was still there. Now if that performance isen't Oscar-worthy, which ist then???

And Stanley Tucci was so charming. They were such a cute couple.

But I liked the Julie parts too. I read the book at the moment and I think Amy Adams did a very good job to capture her character.

[m08s0674]

MissNuggy

I saw it last night with my boyfriend, and both of us huge fans of France and French food 9we live in the UK, so was the perfect movie for us.

I had not idea what the movie was about before we went, funny, enjoyable, and Meryl Streep, she was born to act.

She is absolutely superb as always

[SurvivingOklahoma]

I think that it Julia Child deserved the whole movie to herself. Throwing in "Julie" and her story was just horribly DISTASTEFUL and disrespectful to Julia! It's almost sad that they did this because Julia Child did not like Julie.

The movie depicts Julie as this bright and happy angel, but (and I've read her blog) she's pretty much a crude person and her blog is filled with cuss words (and the likes). I now know why Julia Child, in real life, denounced her! lol

[hereyethere]

that is the most filipino guy ever. haha. very cute.

[Sarasdad91]

Meryl Streep is n ot the greatest living American actress. She is the greatest actress in hollywood history. I believe she would blow Betty Davis away.

[AolaniAnvita1]

hmzlooking for a man that would give me some experience.

[traanaitat]

wiii

[peepeevagi]

Even though the plot involves blogging and 9/11 it's still a good movie.

The part at the train station where Julia's sister comes had me in tears it was just too funny.