Julie & Julia (2009)
Julie & Julia is the poster child for why I don’t like stories that transport back and forth between the modern era and the past. With so few exceptions I could count them on my right hand, every movie or book that employs this dual narrative genre falls into the same pattern with the same flaw: the modern timeline is infinitely less interesting. I always find myself wishing the modern half was cut out completely so I could focus on the glory of the story about the past.
In this pseudo-comedy, a floundering, untalented, unlikable young woman, Amy Adams, decides to create a blog about her failed culinary exploits. She doesn’t know how to boil water, and she decides to go page by page through Julia Child’s cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Interspersed in her ridiculous, uninteresting “adventures” are snippets of Julia Child’s life.
While it’s great fun to see the splendid Meryl Streep reincarnating Julia Child in the kitchen, exploring culinary school, and furthering her career, I loved the human aspect of her story. The entire movie could have been devoted to her life, career, and marriage, without the audience feeling that anything was missing. Her life was much more than just a cookbook and a television program, and this movie shows her sorrows. Mr. Child is portrayed by Stanley Tucci, and he has such wonderful chemistry with his onscreen wife, you’ll find yourself wondering if he’s the same actor who normally plays bad guys in his movies. They’re so delightful, sweet, and loving together, and their scenes are the best in the movie. In my favorite scene, Meryl and Stanley are enjoying a lunch date in a restaurant. They’re discussing what she should do for a career, and Meryl, mid-bite, says she loves to eat. Stanley says, “You’re so good at it!” and she chuckles as she says, “I am! I’m growing in front of you!” By the end of the scene, they decide she should go to cooking school and develop her love of food.
So many Hollywood biopics include a primary plot of an “average Joe” whose life is altered because of an interaction with the featured celebrity. I don’t happen to like that pattern, because the featured celebrity is always interesting enough to warrant an entire movie about his or her life. The average Joe simply isn’t necessary, and it detracts from whom every audience member has come to see. Amy Adams’s performance is not to blame for the lousy parts of this movie. She did what she was supposed to do, but she just shouldn’t have been asked to do it. Meryl Streep’s fantastic reincarnation of Julia Child makes this movie worthwhile, but it is disappointing that she’s relegated to a supporting role.
More Meryl Streep movies here!
In this pseudo-comedy, a floundering, untalented, unlikable young woman, Amy Adams, decides to create a blog about her failed culinary exploits. She doesn’t know how to boil water, and she decides to go page by page through Julia Child’s cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Interspersed in her ridiculous, uninteresting “adventures” are snippets of Julia Child’s life.
While it’s great fun to see the splendid Meryl Streep reincarnating Julia Child in the kitchen, exploring culinary school, and furthering her career, I loved the human aspect of her story. The entire movie could have been devoted to her life, career, and marriage, without the audience feeling that anything was missing. Her life was much more than just a cookbook and a television program, and this movie shows her sorrows. Mr. Child is portrayed by Stanley Tucci, and he has such wonderful chemistry with his onscreen wife, you’ll find yourself wondering if he’s the same actor who normally plays bad guys in his movies. They’re so delightful, sweet, and loving together, and their scenes are the best in the movie. In my favorite scene, Meryl and Stanley are enjoying a lunch date in a restaurant. They’re discussing what she should do for a career, and Meryl, mid-bite, says she loves to eat. Stanley says, “You’re so good at it!” and she chuckles as she says, “I am! I’m growing in front of you!” By the end of the scene, they decide she should go to cooking school and develop her love of food.
So many Hollywood biopics include a primary plot of an “average Joe” whose life is altered because of an interaction with the featured celebrity. I don’t happen to like that pattern, because the featured celebrity is always interesting enough to warrant an entire movie about his or her life. The average Joe simply isn’t necessary, and it detracts from whom every audience member has come to see. Amy Adams’s performance is not to blame for the lousy parts of this movie. She did what she was supposed to do, but she just shouldn’t have been asked to do it. Meryl Streep’s fantastic reincarnation of Julia Child makes this movie worthwhile, but it is disappointing that she’s relegated to a supporting role.
More Meryl Streep movies here!