Julie & Julia (2009)
Rated: PG-13
Starring: Meryl Streep and Amy Adams
Directed by: Nora Ephron
Recommended
In a word: Scrumptious!
Plot:The movie is broken into two stories – the first tells of Julia and Paul Child’s years in France and how Julia became enamored with French cooking; the second tells of Julie Powell and her quest to “find herself”, which she does by deciding to cook her way through Julia Child’s cookbook and blogging about it.
The first story is by far the more compelling of the two. Paul Child, a State Department employee, and his wife, Julia, move to France soon after the end of WWII. Julia, not one to become a bored diplomat’s wife, throws herself into one diversion after another. It is when she enrolls in the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu cooking school that Julia finds her life’s passion. Julia later meets Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, and they found the L'Ecole des Trois Gourmandes, teaching French cooking to American women. Forced to leave her beloved Paris due to Paul’s job – Julia maintains contact with Simone and they begin the process of writing a French cookbook for Americans. This book would eventually be published as “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and would make Julia Child a household name.
The secondary story is that of Julie Powell, a thirty-something living in New York with her husband and cat. Julie has a depressing job, lives in a depressing apartment and has depressingly successful friends. Deciding she needs a “goal” in life, she undertakes the monumental task of cooking every recipe in “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in 365 days – and blogging about it along the way. This creates a bit of strife within her marriage (not to mention a bit of neglect for her cat).
Thoughts: They had me at butter. In one of the first scenes of the film, Paul and Julia Child sit down in a French café for lunch. They bring out a pan with a fish filet swimming butter, removing the bones it at the table for Julia. I WANTED that fish! I could almost smell it. OK, let’s wipe the drool and finish the review, shall we?
As stated above, the Julia sections of the film are by far the more interesting of the film. Meryl Streep and Stanely Tucci as Julia and Paul Child are outstanding! It’s SO wonderful to see a happily married, middle-aged couple in a film. Sadly, this is a rarity. It’s also nice that the film-makers didn’t attempt to “beautify” Julia. Streep plays Child as she was – tall, loud and more than a bit overpowering – and doesn’t sink into caricature once.
The Powell sections of the film are nice, but far less interesting. She cooks, she blogs, she ignores her husband, all in an attempt to find some fame. At least, that why I assume she’s doing all this. You never really get a sense of why this project is so important to her. It’s just an interesting idea that blossomed into a book deal. I wish I had those sort of interesting ideas! Most of the humor in the film is found in Powell’s attempts to duplicate recipes and learn new techniques (like how to boil a live-lobster). However, the funniest moment of the movie comes from a showing of Dan Aykroyd’s parody on Saturday Night Live. All things considered, the Powell sections are amusing, but forgettable. They don’t bring the film down too much, however, as Adams is very engaging.
In the end, this is a pleasant film with a whole bunch of mouthwatering food. Well worth the price of a matinee! Now, if you would pass me a croissant and the butter…
Spoilers:There isn’t a whole lot of hardship in this film. Powell’s marriage woes are so annoying trite that they almost don’t exist (not an accurate real-life portrayal, from what I understand). The only bad thing that happens to Powel is when she learns that Child wasn’t all that impressed with her blog and dismissed it as “disrespectful” - a very “Julia” thing to say.
If you liked this movie try: Like Water for Chocolate; Babette's Feast; Love, Actually