Bon Apetit! Julie & Julia is a Yummy Movie
Written: Aug 15 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fun movie, great performance by Meryl Streep, Julia Child.
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: Based on two true life stories, Julie & Julia is a different look at the famous Julia Child and how she had a profound effect on a Queens woman.
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| Staceys1's Full Review: Julie & Julia |
I do not have the chance to see a movie while it is still in theaters very often, so I was very glad that as my mother-in-law's birthday approached, so did the opening of a movie that I knew that she would want to see. As part of her birthday celebration, our family saw a matinee performance of Julie & Julia.
Most people are familiar with Julia Child, who was a renowned chef, author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and television personality who valued the use of butter in many of her recipes. On the other hand, until recently, Julie Powell was not quite as famous. Powell is a Texan transplanted to New York and who, in 2002 decided that her life was not what she wanted it to be. She had given up on completing her novel and becoming a writer and had a depressing job where she answered telephone complaints and problems stemming from the 9/11 attacks, from within a cubicle each day.
Each night after work, she would release some tension and relax by creating something wonderful in the kitchen, until one day she decided to make every recipe in Julia Child's recipe. She gave herself a deadline and did not pick and choose the recipes, so she vowed to create all 524 in 365 days, and blog about it for all the world to read about. The Julie/Julia Project was born in August of 2002.
Meanwhile, more than fifty years earlier, Julia Child has moved to France with her husband, a government employee, and is looking for something to keep her busy during the day. She enrolls in cooking school, insists on being placed in the advanced class, and quickly out-cooks the other pupils, who happen to be all male.
The movie seamlessly moves back and forth between current-day New York and post-World War II Europe, and I was never unsure of which character we were following at any particular time. We see Julia (Meryl Streep) and her husband (Stanley Tucci) grow closer, even as they are unsure of their future since the government assigns him to various places in Europe. On the other hand, Julie's (Amy Adams) husband Eric (Chris Messina) has had about enough of her cooking and blogging and they have their share of arguments.
While Julia Child is shown successfully creating all sorts of new recipes, and improvements on old ones like mayonnaise, Julie Powell has some difficulties when her aspic (made from a boiled calves' foot) does not set right, or when she falls asleep and burns the Boeuf Bourguignon she was supposed to serve to a special guest.
There are additional characters in the movie, but for the most part, it is all about Julie & Julia, their husbands and their love and appreciation for the art of cooking. While these two women lived in different countries, in different times, write and director Nora Ephron shows parallels between their lives. As Childs works on recipes and struggles to get her cookbook published, Powell struggles with completing all of the recipes in that cookbook.
Julia Child is Julie Powell's hero, and after she and her blog are written about in the New York Times, she hears from the famous chef. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? We all know that Julia Child completes her cookbook and becomes a famous chef, but is Julie Powell as successful in completing the task she assigned herself? I suggest that you see the movie for yourself to find out exactly how it ends.
This film is rated PG-13 and while there was no nudity in this film, there were two or three times where the words spoken were a bit more than I would have liked my eleven year old to hear. For the most part, however, the few sexual situations were generally milder than what is shown on prime time television shows.
Amy Adams is convincing as a thirty year old New Yorker who feels trapped and unsuccessful and who is struggling to make her life worthwhile. Meryl Streep's portrayal of such an iconic figure was wonderful. She mastered Julia Child's mannerisms and voice and even though I wanted to see how current-day Julie was faring, I could have sat through an entire movie where Streep played Child. While both parts of the movie are true stories, Julia Child's portion was more interesting to me than Julie Powell's since she is such a cultural icon. Of course, thanks to her blog, book and now this movie, Powell's fame is probably increasing on a daily basis.
Julie & Julia is a long film at just over two hours, but it was fairly light-hearted and went surprisingly fast. As we left the theater, my daughter asked me if her watch was correct, because she did not think it could possibly be so late. Any movie that can hold your interest for that long is a winner in my book. Bon Apetit!
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Feel-good Movie
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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