Julie & Julia is an absolutely irresistible movie directed by Nora Ephron and co-starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams  for the second time in a year (Doubt). The movie is based from the book of the same title by Julie Powell who is played by Adams. Julie is a stressed government worker working in post 9/11 New York City and nearing her 30’s, unhappy with how little she has achieved so far in life. To unload some daily stress and achieve some short-term goals,  Julie decides to cook all 524 recipes from Julia Child’s first book Mastering the Art of French Cooking within a year and blog about her experience. The movie flips back and forth between Julie’s quest and the early culinary career of the famed Julia Child (Meryl Streep) leading to the publishing of her first book Mastering the Art of French Cooking in 1961.

Julie & Julia was a very entertaining and, at times, fascinating movie. Not only did Julia Child had to fight prejudice against women but she also had to wait years and years for her book to be published and she remained forever optimistic and gracious through it all.  There was also a short but very powerful scene that dealt with the Child’s not being able to conceive which should come into play during awards’ season. Julie Powell’s half of the movie is not at the same level but still engaging enough. Julie is an ardent fan of Julia Child and even goes so far as to imagine her as an imaginary friend to whom she constantly talks and refer to. We get to feel her life in a tiny and noisy 900-ft square apartment and I also enjoyed how her blog progressively went from total obscurity to getting massive amount of visits. Ephron links both stories by paralleling the lives of the two women and although the women never meet each other, it worked perfectly fine.

Amy Adams, sporting shorter hair, is her usual delightful self despite playing an unlikable character. Julie Powell is self-centered and whiny for most of the movie, focusing so much on her cooking that she neglects her husband and everything else at times. That Adams manages to keep her half of the movie just as entertaining is only a testimonial of her genuine charisma on screen. As much as I like Amy Adams  though, Julie & Julia is the Meryl Streep show. What more can be said about Meryl Streep? She has received constant heaps of praises throughout her career and for good reasons. Not only does she captures Julia Child’s voice, her larger-than-life personality as well as her notorious physical mannerism, she was Julia Child! Julia Child being 6 ft 2, Streep even had to portray her imposing stature despite being only 5 ft 6. What could easily have been a caricature in the hands of a less talented performer was turned into an acting showcase which should be rewarded with numerous hardware come awards’ season. Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina give solid albeit unmemorable performances as the supportive husbands.

From a technical point of view, Ephron did a great job with the cinematography and I particularly appreciated the recreation of France in the early 1950’s from the decors to the costumes. Shots of the food are painfully top notch and we also get some beautiful backgrounds of New York City varying from a skyscraper office window to a skyline shot from the roof of an apartment.

A delicious movie to be savored thanks to strong performances from the two leads but I have to duck a little off the final grade because of the utterly needless political commentary. Finally, the movie will make you HUNGRY!

A-

Notes: PG-13,  123 minutes

Related links: The Julie/Julia Project