Julie & Julia is a film that should be relished with gusto--accompanied by the freshest and best ingredients, pounds of butter, and bottles of the very best wine. It lovingly celebrates the life of one of American food's m... more »ost influential and beloved figureheads: Julia Child--played here with zest, humor, and a sweet, subtle respect by Meryl Streep, whose performance is spectacular. Julie & Julia is based on the book by Julie Powell, a frustrated New York bureaucrat who wants to be a writer. "But you're not a writer until someone publishes you," she moans. So she gives herself a challenge: to cook her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year, and to blog about it. As Powell (played with chirpy determination by Amy Adams), begins to find her groove as a cook, and her voice as a writer, the project takes on a life of its own--and in the end it does provide the struggling young woman with her life's purpose, to her very pleasant surprise. But mostly, Julie & Julia is a valentine to Child, to Child's amazing love affair with her dashing husband, Paul (Stanley Tucci, as divine as any soufflé in the film), and to her outlook on embracing life, and ordering seconds. Streep throws herself into the Child role with real affection for her character, and while certain of Child's idiosyncrasies--including her warbly voice and unflappable haphazardness in the kitchen--are retained, it's Child's character and vision which form Streep's portrayal, and which make the film so involving and rewarding. Nora Ephron directs with deftness and a light touch, though she seems at times to be encouraging some of Meg Ryan's onscreen tics in Adams (the self-conscious head tilt, for one). But mostly she simply allows Streep to channel Child and her love of food, her husband, and 1950s Paris. And that is a recipe for something truly sublime. --A.T. Hurley« less
Mandy S. (mandys08) from MARIETTA, GA Reviewed on 7/18/2012...
I very much enjoyed this movie. I love to cook so the great shots of food were a bonus to a cute movie. The parallels of the two lives work well together and who can not love Meryl! If you watch this I recommend the special "making of" feature too, love seeing the shoes to make Meryl taller.
Pat R. (patches5475) from SANDWICH, IL Reviewed on 12/23/2011...
Cute movie!
2 of 5 member(s) found this review helpful.
Ursula S. from WEST HAVEN, CT Reviewed on 11/13/2011...
Best movie ever.
2 of 4 member(s) found this review helpful.
Robert S. (radonfish) from ROGERS, TX Reviewed on 10/31/2011...
excellant portrail from a fan of JULIAS'
2 of 4 member(s) found this review helpful.
Nancy W. from CHARLOTTE, NC Reviewed on 12/20/2010...
Food lovers at their best!
0 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.
Lewis P. (Turfseer) from NEW YORK, NY Reviewed on 10/23/2010...
A tale of two gourmands, or gluttons depending on your perspective
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
For those who haven't seen 'Julie and Julia', it's a tale of two gourmands, or gluttons depending on your perspective. There seems little doubt that 'Julie' is the weaker of the two stories as she is much lesser known compared to Julia Child, a seminal figure in the world of cookery. Julie's claim to fame was that she came up with the idea of preparing every meal featured in Julia Child's cookbook within a year's time and blogging about it over the internet. Some people describe her as a 'whiner' and certainly the use of various expletives in her blogs turned off a fair number of people (including Julia Child herself along with her original editor). Nonetheless, she did accrue a rather large following over the internet due to her witty style of writing. It's probably safe to say that Julie is more an innovator in the field of writing than cooking. Amy Adams does a fair enough job conveying the exuberance of the talented writer who is also a tad bit neurotic in her bid for public acceptance.
The 'Julia' side of the story is far more fascinating. First of all, the recreation of Paris in 1949 is vastly more visually arresting than the blasé Queens of 2002. Then there is Julia Child's story itself, which pulls you in from the start. I like how Nora Ephron didn't sugarcoat her protagonist—she could have omitted the fact that Julia Child was an avid smoker, but chose not to! Her early training at the French cooking school, replete with the conflict with an arrogant headmistress along with the distrust of her fellow male students, reveals just how determined Julia Child was to mold a career around cooking, an avocation which she absolutely adored. The jury is still out whether Meryl Streep captured the essence of the cooking icon. Some internet posters feel that her performance was all caricature but others were convinced that Streep conveyed Julia's warmth and humanity. I personally felt there was a little bit of both as Streep aimed for a mixture of verisimilitude and parody.
What keeps us interested in 'Julie and Julia' is not only the interconnected plot but our basic curiosity in seeing how both characters manage to become successful in their field. Before becoming successful, both Julie and Julia had to both deal with rejection. With Julie, her initial failure to attract an audience to her blogs, culminating in the failure of the elderly Judith Jones (Julia's editor) to show up at the dinner and interview with the accompanying Christian Science reporter, marks the low point in her quest for acceptance; similarly, Julia must also overcome obstacles including the dissonance over a writing partner's failure to make a sufficient contribution to the book the writing team has been working on as well as the initial rejection of the book by the well-known publishing house, Houghton Mifflin. And the scenes where Julie and Julia 'succeed' are probably the most satisfying of the entire movie: in Julie's case, she receives multiple messages on her answering machine; for Julia, it's the moment she opens the letter from another big publishing house, Alfred Knopf, who finally has accepted her manuscript.
Both Julie and Julia both have supportive husbands who figure prominently in the story. Again, the story of Julia's husband, Paul Child (ably played by Stanley Tucci) is more interesting than the story of Julie's husband, Eric. With Julie and Eric, there's a direct conflict between the couple, culminating in a fight where they stop talking to each other for a short period of time. The conflict helps to flesh out Julie's character a bit since it is Eric who accuses her of being narcissistic (not entirely without merit). But the conflict is basically standard domestic discord type of stuff. The conflict between Paul and Julia stems from Paul's situation as an employee of the U.S. Foreign Service. There is always the fear that Paul will be transferred which might throw a wrench into Julia's career aspirations. Somehow, she is accommodating and they manage to work things out.
However, there is the larger conflict of the U.S. Government versus Paul. He's called home and investigated by higher-ups who are minions of Joe McCarthy. Somehow he manages to escape being blacklisted. Some internet posters object to Nora Ephron's liberal bias, especially in her disparagement of McCarthy sympathizers. I can only laugh at the thought that there are people who actually believe that Joe McCarthy kept America 'safe from Communism'. As someone who has read numerous biographies of Joe McCarthy, I am completely convinced that Joe McCarthy only used the issue of Communism to further his career. In fact, in 1949, McCarthy supported a group of SS men accused of murdering US Soldiers during World War II. This was his first battle with the Army; in 1954, he tried to take on the Army again during the 'Army-McCarthy' hearings, and lost.
Once we learn of how the two principals break through with their initial success in their respective fields, 'Julie and Julia' runs out of gas. The closing credits inform the audience of the fate of the real-life Julie and Julia. The disturbing rejection of Julie by Julia Child (as well as Julia's editor) is mentioned, but never explored.
As someone who hasn't eaten meat or poultry for thirty-five years and gave up butter and cheese about ten years ago, somehow I was not impressed by the 'eat everything you can' philosophy promoted by the film's scenarists. Perhaps in Julia Child's day it was safer to eat the food she was eating since the animals were not fed the cheap grain and shot full of hormones and antibiotics as they are today. I think I'll eschew the big Julia Child gourmet recipes for more simpler fare, as I believe eating less and exercising is the key to long life.
2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Monica M. from BIXBY, OK Reviewed on 8/4/2010...
Excellent movie. Loved all the food involved in plot...definately a foodie movie!!
1 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Roberta B. from REEDSPORT, OR Reviewed on 6/2/2010...
Meryl Streep did it again...Perfect!
2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Kathryn B. (KathrynBlodgett) from JUPITER, FL Reviewed on 5/7/2010...
I honestly don't understand the hype about this movie. The actors themselves did a great job with what they had but the overall story was bland and unexiting. I was not impressed, even with it being sort of biographical in nature, it didn't keep my interest.
2 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.
Mary L. (marymix) from ALEXANDRIA, VA Reviewed on 4/23/2010...
Wonderful movie, fantastic performances by Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci - I think the best of his career. Meryl Streep makes Julia Child come alive on the screen and Stanley Tucci's Paul Child is the perfect foil. I wanted to be there in the movie with them. Their chemistry was fantastic. The parallel story of Julie was a little weak sometimes, but the interweaving of the two plots was done fairly well.
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