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Julie & Julia, directed by Nora Ephron (Jenn)

2/22/2010

1 Comment

 
First of all: I love Meryl Streep, so I'm a bit biased towards this movie. Second of all: I know nothing about Julia Childs so Mrs. Streep's depiction of her could be right on the nose or nowhere near the real thing. Considering it's Meryl Streep I'm going to say she did an awesome job. 

The movie is essentially a dual biopic (biographic movie of two people, for those of you who don't understand film jargon.) The first biography is, of course, the story of how famed chef (cheftress? chefette?) Julia Childs got her start cooking. She and her husband move to France for his job, which even though I watched the movie twice I still didn't catch and don't really care about. Basically it's not very important. Julia decides that while her husband is working she's going to cook to keep herself busy. What better place to learn to cook than Le Cordon Bleu? (Again, for those of you who don't know Le Cordon Bleu is one of the most intense culinary schools in the world. Period.) 

Fast forward 40ish years and we meet Julie Powell; a kind of pathetic, cubicle-dwelling albeit adorable, 30 year old wannabe-author. Call me harsh, but that's how the character comes across. Amy Adams, however, is one of the cutest girls on the planet. Julie has an unabashed love for Julia Childs, so when one of her snarky businesswoman friends publishes an article and beings a blog, Julie decides that even she can write one. Her boyfriend proposes that she blog about something she loves, which is where Julie's and Julia's worlds collide. 

Over the movie is heart-warming and super cute. I loved it enough to watch it twice. The love stories between Julia and her husband and Julie and her boyfriend are not major plot devices but they are romantic yet predictable. It makes you all fuzzy inside. The cinematography is good. There aren't any points that lag so you don't feel disinterested at any point. It's not a great masterpiece like Gone with the Wind or whatever but it is a movie that is good for all ages. 

Bon appetite!
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1 Comment
Gianna831
11/19/2010 10:47:00 pm

Julia and her husband were with the OSS/CIA, which is what Ivy Leaguers and Seven Sisters did after college, back in the day. Core mission: Keep the world safe for American capital. Contemporary audiences have a jaundiced view of the organization, so perhaps it was purposefully soft-pedalled. Julia was over six feet tall, and though the proportions where a little strange when Streep was chopping onions at the counter, that fact was well-filmed. Her relationship with husband Paul in the film was utterly wonderful! Imagine--50-somethings taking "long lunches" in their apartment bedroom! Not likely in whiny young Julie's future!

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