Julie & Julia

Booze Revooze: A Drinker’s Skewed Review of Julie & Juila

Ramblings: A Virgin Chicktail

Final Proof: 1 shot (Piss)

Right upfront, if you’re a woman, nondrinker or both, this isn’t a review for you. i’m not a big fan of romantic comedies and i’m not gonna show a whole lot of mercy here. There are pro’lly tons of sites that’ll fluff the review for you like some big old lacy pillow, but here we take it straight.

If you insist, there were two things i liked about this movie.

1. i did laugh out loud like maybe three times, and i was even sober and even laughing with the movie, not at it.
2. Meryl Streep’s acting was great, as usual. She should do a movie about drinking.

Ok, that out of the way, let’s get down to it.

i’m not a foodie, people, i’m an alkie. Give me home-brew, not home-cooked– though i’m not averse to getting cooked at home. About food: the first half an hour of the movie you get to hear every actor masticating like grandma with corn on the cob. Drinking is so much smoother.

The basis of the movie is the true story of a woman who gets super famous because she decides to cook 524 of Julia Child’s recipes in one year and blog about it. It made me a little jealous, truth be told. i’ve posted nearly 50 blogs but still don’t have one fan (that i don’t live with). No one has interviewed me or done a news story about me and i’m the freakin’ FASe of the D-Generation! It’ll happen, though, for sure. i’ll write a book and then they’ll make a movie about me. Meryl Streep could be in it. i’m thinking Sean Penn would make a good Al K Hall.

A better cooking movie would be about Keith Floyd, an English Chef (which apparently is not an oxymoron!) who, according to the Wiki page, “was noted for his haphazard presenting style which included frequent consumption of wine, beer and local alcoholic beverages.” Now there’s a movie i’d enjoy.

Overall, Julie  & Julia was pretty bland. It was a reheated story of an already stale concept, totally lacking spice. Serve it up to guests who like this kind of fare, but don’t try it yourself.

Buzz Kills (Watch Out For Spoilers)

Sex: 0 shots (Empty)

The movie stars Amy Adams. Here’s what AA (don’t worry, not that AA) can look like:
  Here’s what she looked like in the movie:
  Vanessa Ferlito was also in this movie for about 10 seconds. Here’s  what she looked like:
Here’s what she can look like:
i think i’m seeing a pattern here…

There were some sex scenes that were mercifully cut short after a couple minutes of over-the-clothes foreplay. Even what got left in, though, still felt like watching your parents going at it. Yes, even the Amy Adams bra scene.

The hottest thing about this movie? i’ll tell you: Watching Miss Demeanor walk out of the subway entrance before the film. i’d been waiting for her and was kind of scoping out girls that strolled past and i didn’t recognize her at first. My initial though was, ‘Damn, that  girl is fine!’ before i realized it was her in this tight top and short  jean skirt. Let me tell you, i felt so proud and lucky i was even willing to see Julie & Julia just so long as i could be next to her.

Drinks: 1 shot (Piss)

There were a couple scenes of people drinking wine responsibly at dinner and you know how much fun that is to watch. Like golf.  Or Saturday morning Disney programming.

Amy and Meryl both drink vodka gimlets at one point of the movie; Amy’s character downs hers in a bar because she’s bummed, which is about as realistic as this movie gets. AA is supposed to be tipsy but she pulls it off as badly as most actors do. Remind me to send the Actor’s Studio either a tape of me drunk or that one of the Hoff washing his face with a Big Mac.
Rock & Roll: 0 shots (Empty)

The closest we get to rock and roll in this movie is The Talking Heads. ‘Nuff said.

Slurred Speeches

On blogging:

It's like AA, it gives you something you have to do every day, one day at a time.

Boring Technical Crap:

Written and Directed by Nora Ephron (based on the book by Julie Powell)

Starring:

Meryl Streep: Julia Child

Amy Adams: Julie Powell

Al K Hall<br />
Functional Alcoholic Slurperson<br />
(No, REALLY. Google &amp;quot;Slurperson&amp;quot; if you don't believe me.)

Last updated: 2010-04-04 22:48:53 by user08

JULIE AND JULIA (Nora Ephron, 2009)

 



**
USA

This is why you don't adapt a blog: you end up a with a movie where nothing happens. Other than Meryl Streep playing Robin Williams playing Daniel Day Lewis playing Julia Child. Whatever this is, it isn't acting - this is a whole new realm of Grotesque. Just give the woman her sixth Oscar already. Maybe she'll ditch the funny voices.

(Since Ephron struggles to devise a feature's worth of dramatic or comedic interest, we are treated to a clip of Dan Aykroyd's SNL impression of La Child. It's not only funnier, but more grounded.)


--- --- EDITED ON March 06 to add: --- ---

An otherwise entertaining, characteristically/eerily perceptive post by Nick Davis on the year's Best Actress contenders set me off on a tirade languishing towards the bottom of the comments section. Since I'm not sure anyone over there will read it and since it elaborates on precisely what made this movie unendurable for me, I'll copy and paste it here:
[I hope that the venerable Mr. Davis, whose fabulous blog you ought to check out - and daily - won't mind.]

How to explain. Imagine this scenario: You pop in a DVD - the cover tells you to expect a fine bit of froth about the grandma everybody wants to have cooking for them. And sure enough, the movie begins, there's a kitchen, a grinning grandma. But the movie takes a sudden turn and plunges into a gruesomely detailed record of said grinning grandma performing a colonscopy without anaesthetic. You are astounded, mortified, irretrievably battered. You go online to seek advice on how other people found ways - if any people at all managed - to recuperate from this experience. But every other person in the world insists that all they could see is a fine bit of froth about the grandma everybody wants to have cooking for them.

There are bad yet acclaimed performances, which I know are bad, but the acclaim is sort of explicable: so when Kate Winslet creates a huggable Nazi, and I go 'You serious?' but the world goes 'How huggable!' - that's fine, that I can compute.

But when I see Meryl Streep playing Robin Williams playing Julia Child, and I go 'AAAGH!!!!', but the world goes 'the film, and Streep's performance, are lush vessels of positive feeling' - the brain cannot compute. That is not computable.

I understand, of course, that Meryl Streep can take a dump on camera and get an Oscar nomination faster than Helen Mirren can. And I've accepted that. But surely the people who would seek out and appreciate and even spell Catalina Saavedra will lose patience with this woman when they spot her fidgeting purely to make sure you don't for a moment glance away at the extras. Or when she portrays half-suppressed impatience kabuki-style so that small children outside the cinema are compelled to turn and look while the poor actors standing barely ten inches away from her are forced to pretend they can't notice anything unusual. Or when she's halfway through hurling out her tonsils while capping off her 24th sentence in a row with "what are we to DEW-OOO!!"

I swear, I'm only half-kidding. I mean, with someone like Daniel Day Plainview, you can approach that performance and ponder "when is too much really too much?" and conclude, "well, at least not when it's so transifixing and cathartic". But with DJEW-LYAH Child - every time she popped up on screen, I was downright craving the bite-sized ennui endured by Amy Adams and her repressed haircut.

I accept that art is subjective etc. But I tried to look at Djew-lyah in the same way that I would look at a sheep's colon whereby I am objectively able to ascertain that what is before me truly is a sheep's colon - whether it is a fine, moist one or otherwise. But in the case of Djew-lyah, I look and I look, and I can't track down a vantage point from which I can perceive an actor's representation of a character. Only a brutal endurance test.

All of this in the end is a very long way of saying: I promise to look by without dismay at Meryl Streep winning her 3rd Oscar (because, you know, god forbid that with Stanwyck and Ullmann earning zero, the star of Mamma Mia! should receive anything less than three). But straight after that I demand that she disappear far far away only to return a very very long time from now, having shed all the goosey grande-dameness and once again re-assumed the recognisable, palatable form of a human being.


So yes, that's that. I still don't understand how I could be alone in this. Did no one else come out of that movie wanting to punch La Streep in her smug self-satisfied face? (For the record, I do otherwise vehemently believe that violence against women is thoroughly despicable.)

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Last updated: 2010-03-14 03:56:08 by user06

Julie and Julia

Starring: Meryl Streep and Amy Adams
Comedy, 2009 (PG-13)

This is the true story of two different Julia's wherein Julia Powell is inspired by Julia Child. Julia Powell is a lowly government secretary who works in a cubicle and has friends who design things, write things, and have big titles. She is a writer but doesn't consider herself to actually be one because she couldn't find anyone to publish her book. Shortly after her and her husband move to Queens she grows tired of her uninspired life. She loves cooking and decides to cook 524 recipes from Julia Child's cook book in 365 days and write a blog about it. Well, french cooking is not as easy as Julia Child makes it look and with a full time job the task becomes way more difficult then she ever imagines but also yields amazing rewards that she never thought possible.

• This movie is very touching. So many 30 something woman can identify with feeling like they are going nowhere fast and have somehow ended up in their 30's with nothing to show for it.
• I am actually a Julie myself except I have not ever written a book. Successful friends and a cubicle job. Wouldn't it be amazing to have her fairy tale story?
• I really love Amy Adams. She is perfect in this role. She has such a real and endearing quality about her that plays perfectly.
• Meryl Streep does a great job mirroring Julia Child's high pitched style of speech and they did an amazing job of making her look taller then she is.
• The movie switches back and forth between Julia Powell and Julia Child but it's never confusing. It's just fun.

5 Stars

Just Me

julie and julia

this movie is quite enjoyable.  i can’t remember a movie i’ve seen in a crowd that has garnered such a positive response.  it is an absolute feel good movie.  also maybe somewhat of a chick flick, but i really enjoyed it.  and will see it again if i can coerce a lil hottie to go with me.

the tag line is “based on two true stories”.  it parallels a book by the chick that’s played by amy adams, who i am totally in love with, and julia child’s book about her time in france.  julia child is played to a tee by meryl streep.  stanley tucci plays paul child, julia’s husband and i’m not sure if he’s ever been better.

i really don’t want to say much about it other than go see it.  we had two special screenings of this film before it was released and they both sold out.  it came out up against G. I. Joe, and actually beats it in attendance during the matinee hours.  when all the morons get off work and come out, G. I. Joe nudges ahead.  G. I. Joe is a movie made for morons.  i refuse to even review it.  needless to say that’s two and a half hours of my life i could have been clipping my toe nails…

but back to julie and julia.  not only is a delightfully entertaining film, i learned a few things about cooking.  number one, you can never use too much butter.  and number two, don’t crowd the mushrooms.  i’ve been cooking mushrooms wrong my whole life.

there are several movies out this week including the time traveler’s wife, which i have not seen.  but i would recommend seeing julie and julia this weekend if you are looking for a date movie.  the time traveler’s wife might be crowded being the new film out this week.  and i find it hard to imagine it’ll be as delightful as julie and julia.  that might change once i’ve seen it though.  i hearsay the book is wonderful.

i give julie and julia four sauteed portabellas out of five.

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Cal Reed

Julie & Julia

"Julie & Julia" is written and directed by Nora Ephron (who wrote "When Harry Met Sally" and wrote/directed "Sleepless in Seattle) and stars Meryl Streep ("Mamma Mia!," "Doubt"), Stanley Tucci ("The Devil Wears Prada"), Amy Adams ("Enchanted," "Doubt"), and Jane Lynch ("Role Models") has a brief role. This is another good movie that came out this summer...putting Meryl Streep in the lead role is always helpful.

The movie is base off two books, "My Life in France," by Julia Child and "Julie and Julia," by Julie Powell

"Julie & Julia" follows the lives of two women, Julia Child (Meryl Streep) starting in 1949 and Julie Powell (Amy Adams) in 2002. Julia Child has moved to Paris, France with her husband Paul (Stanley Tucci). She decides to enroll in a cooking school and soon impresses the class full of male chefs with her talent. This leads to teaching aspirations as well as writing a French cookbook for American chefs. 53 years later Julie Powell (also married) decides to start blogging about her plan to cook all 524 Julia Child's recipes in one year. Throughout the film Nora Ephron goes back and forth between the two women's stories.

Meryl Streep is an amazing actress and I am convinced that she can play any role. Her list of movies shows her wide range as an actress and this latest endeavor is no exception. She is excellent as Julia Child. She is convincing and gets the voice and mannerisms perfectly. Many of the successfully funny scenes and lines come straight from Meryl Streep. She also has great chemistry with Stanley Tucci. Of the two couples, their marriage was by far the most convincing. You can see the love that they have for each other and how much Paul supports Julia in her desire to fulfill her food-related dreams. Amy Adams is also a good actress but her scenes with Chris Messini, who plays her husband Eric, just don't feel as convincing as Streep and Tucci.

By far the best parts of the movie are the scenes about Julia Child's life. This story is just more interesting that Julie Powell's. The acting and dialogue is more believable and I just cared more for the interactions between the Childs'. Both couples deal with how the wives' fascination and time spent with food affected the respective marriages.

The movie visually looks very good. The scenes about Julia and Paul Child in Paris has a definite 1940s-1950s look. Everything in those scenes fits the era well and are a nice contrast to the 2002 scenes in New York City. There are some good aerial shots, wide shots, etc. Nora Ephron doesn't do innovative direction. But, what is here works for the type of film. Also, plenty of shots of delicious food add to the visual enjoyment.

At times the movie drags, mostly in the 2002 scenes, but overall works well. The switches between the two women's lives feel natural for the most part. At times scenes with both women mirror each other in the actions that are taking place.

The movie is highly entertaining. Some people may be skeptical about a movie about Julia Child, but it's a successful mix of comedy and drama. And the main thing is that Meryl Streep's the lead and is a pleasure to watch as usual. Without her the movie would not have been nearly as good. Although some parts have dialogue or chemistry issues overall it is a good movie-watching experience for me. 3 out of 4 stars...and way better than a certain "Sleepless in Seattle."

Super Marcey's Julie & Julia Review

Rating: 3.5/5

 

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Recommendations: Moon (Duncan Jones, 2009), Milk, Hurt Locker, The (Kathryn Bigelow, 2009)

Last updated: 2010-02-23 02:16:53 by SuperMarcey

Julie & Julia

Meryl Streep is Julia Child. It’s ridiculous how well she embodies her. The accent is one thing (who hasn’t done a Julia Child impression while cooking?), but it’s her whole persona – her being – her…Julia Childness. Every second she is on the screen, you can’t help but smile. Yes, she’s funny as Child, but she’s warm, too. She makes you want to jump into the screen with her and spend every day following her around the kitchen while she whips up a masterpiece and then sidle up next to her on the couch to read a good book and give her a big hug goodnight. It’s this warmth and familiarity that made Julia Child a hit on television and with her cookbooks and it’s this warmth and familiarity that makes this movie. “Julie and Julia” was inspired by a blog and book written by Julie Powell. She takes on the enormous task of making every recipe in Julia Child’s cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in a mere 365 days. While doing so, she tracks her progress on her blog. Powell is played by Amy Adams, and Adams brings her likeability to the role – and that’s really about it. Her performance seemed weak during certain scenes, but it’s definitely possible that it seems weak because of Streep’s outstanding turn as Child. Powell’s task is chronicled and the movie intercuts her story with Child’s experience writing her book in France. Both women have their struggles and moments of self-doubt. They both have loving, supportive husbands that believe in them, and they both love their butter. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that the Julia Child side of the story is simply more interesting than Powell’s. It could have been a movie by itself. Regardless of that fact, I couldn’t help but feel connected to Powell’s story.
Powell and her husband relocate to Queens at the very beginning of the film (my wife and I have just relocated to Carbondale). She decides to write a blog to glean some sort of enjoyment out of her days working in a call center (I work the phones at a retail store and I worked in a call center before that. And, well, you’re reading my blog right now.). Over the course of her year, she begins to feel as if she knows Julia Child because of the massive amount of time spent in her cookbook and the connection felt while preparing her recipes. She even says at one point that she thinks Child is perfect even though Child apparently made a comment to a newspaper reporter stating that she felt Powell’s blog wasn’t respectful of her. I have a similar obsession of my own – Roger Ebert. I credit Roger Ebert for helping to realize my passion for film. I have read his books, gobble up every review he writes (but only after I’ve written my own), and am a devoted follower of his blog. I even had the chance to meet him at a book signing in April. In my mind, Ebert is the embodiment of perfection in the world of film criticism. And while watching the movie, I couldn’t help but make the connection in my mind and I instictively was drawn to Powell’s story. I realize I might sound like some sort of stalker/obsessed fanboy, but I’m not, and neither is Julie Powell. Imitation is the biggest form of flattery, and Powell does Child the service of reviving interest in her and her cooking.
Nora Ephron wrote and directed the film. The script is well-written and the direction sure-handed. Ephron can always be counted on to turn in a good movie (her credits include “Sleepless in Seattle,” “You’ve Got Mail,” and “When Harry Met Sally”). While the script and direction were good, the performances from Streep and Stanley Tucci as Child’s husband Paul elevate the movie to a whole new level. They portray Julia and Paul as the couple everyone wants to be – loving, supportive, and never too old to have a mid-afternoon romp-a-roo. There’s nothing deep about the story and nothing terribly inspiring about it, but it’s extremely entertaining. It has funny moments (like when Julia Child is fishing a canoli out of a boiling pot and has some rather, um, colorfol things to say about it), touching moments (like when Julia receives news that her sister is pregnant and cries into Paul’s shoulder), and moments that make you salivate (like the beef bourguignon).
Powell’s storyline might not be as memorable as Child’s, but it’s definitely a testament to her that her story has inspired this movie. She had a passion and she seized it and made her dreams come true. With Child, she shares that. While Adams’ performance as Powell was weak in spots, it’s impossible not to like her (My wife says she’s adorable. I think that’s an accurate description.). And Streep’s performance is simply amazing. Her comedic timing is perfect. Her accent is spot on, and you forget after awhile that you’re not actually watching Julia Child. The movie may not be anything more than entertaining, but there’s nothing wrong with that. So if you go to see it or wait to rent it, sit back, relax, and bon appetit!
 
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 123 minutes
Starring: Meryl Streep (Julia Child); Amy Adams (Julie Powell); Stanley Tucci (Paul Child); Chris Messina (Eric Powell); Linda Emond (Simone Beck); Jane Lynch (Dorothy McWilliams); Helen Carey (Louisette Bertholle); Mary Lynn Rajskub (Sarah)
Directed by: Nora Ephron; written by Ephron, based on the books “Julie and Julia” by Julie Powell and “My Life in France” by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme; produced by Laurence Mark, Ephron, Amy Robinson, and Eric Steel. A Columbia Pictures release.

Julie and Julia: Myrell Streep almost makes it worth it....

Everyone knows  Julia Child as the boiling water defying culinary chef who  showed America how to cook. But Julia Child wasn’t always Julia Child.
We had missed Julie and Julia when it came out in the theaters; so once it was on DVD, we instantly rented it. The moment we finished, I had a lot of different opinions about it.
As promising as this movie seemed when we first saw the trailer, the finished product is far from “inspiring”. At least, Julie’s story wasn’t. Truthfully, the movie would have been better if it were just about Julia Child; and not switching between two different lives.


I can say though, that it was funny, and entertaining. And I did learn a little more about Julia Child then I had before, but it was not as satisfying as it could have been.
This is a good movie for people who like food, or are interested in the life of Julia Child.

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Recommendations: The Blind Side , Batman Begins

Hannah E.

Last updated: 2010-02-22 13:43:16 by pickledwookiee

JULIE & JULIA (2009)

BOTTOM LINE: A charming film about the true story of how one woman finds inspiration and success from the life-story of celebrity chef Julia Child, although it is let down by the fact that it is too long and nothing much happens dramatically.

THE GOOD: Julie Powell (Amy Adams) is having a crisis of sorts in that she cannot seem to get her life on track. She is working at a depressing job, frustrated with her abode above a pizzeria and unable to complete anything she starts, but does have a wonderful husband in Eric (Chris Messina) who encourages her to start a blog on cooking, a past time she loves. Julie vows to complete this blog by tackling all the recipes of Julia Child’s (Meryl Streep) first cook book over the course of a year. Before long, she develops a popular following which leads her to a successful writing career. “Julie & Julia” is a positive, warm film which cleverly parallels the lives of Julie Powell and Julia Child simultaneously as they both struggle to find success in getting published. The film never gets lost as it shifts between the two time periods (Julia is in 50s and 60s, Julie is post-2000) and uses some interesting visual transitions to move between the two which are never arbitrary or confusing. The most fascinating aspect to the film is how big a part technology has played in getting people noticed. Julia Child struggled for years and years before she finally got her first cook book taken seriously and published. Julie Powell signed up to a blog on the internet and achieved cult status within a few months, without spending a cent and without a publisher’s approval. Meryl Streep is brilliant yet again as the eccentric Julia Child; all of her character’s mannerisms could have been played over the top and silly but Streep somehow miraculously makes her very likeable and watchable. Amy Adams also does a great job as the emotionally vulnerable but determined Julie Powell, riddled with doubt and determination. Overall, “Julie & Julia” emanates a nice and warm feeling, making for some light and entertaining viewing.

THE BAD: The film is unfortunately way too long and will have you shifting in your sent, particularly in the last twenty minutes when it has clearly overstayed its welcome. Clocking in at just over two hours, the film could have been around 100 minutes and still gotten the job done, particularly as there are no real moments of heavy drama or conflict. Another issue relates to the one literal crossover between the lives of Julie and Julia. Julie receives a call one night from a reporter who tracked down Julia Child. It turns out the 90-year old Julia did not like Julie’s blog at all, calling it a complete trivialisation of her cook book and work. While this happened in real life and the filmmakers cannot really be faulted for including it, this revelation makes Child’s character not sympathetic and from that point, it is hard to be in to her story, particularly as so much work had been put in to the narrative up until that point to make both Julie and Julia sympathetic characters.

RATING: 7.5/10

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

julie and julia

before i watched julie and julia, i had very little idea of what it would be about. i knew some girl was cooking, from a cookbook. but why? it was a mystery.

now i know: she was directionless. her career sucked, and she wasn’t happy with the shitty apartment she and her husband shared. so she starts a blog, and doing some cooking, which gives her direction. that sums up the film. at least she didn’t just have kids to get direction; maybe that would have been a different movie.

i enjoyed it, julie and julia. it had some humour, and while i can’t really relate to the cooking, i certainly enjoy food. and watching food being made. i also fully admit i had no idea who julia child was. this movie taught me a lot about her: now i know she looks like meryl streep and speaks in a very annoying way. she also moves around a lot.

anyways i give this movie a 5.3/7. it was above average, though not the best meal i’ve ever tasted with my eyes. i also read afterward that julie actually had an affair during this whole cooking fiasco, that she left out of the story, which kind of ruins it.

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Last updated: 2010-01-09 00:46:35 by user03

Movie Review: Julie & Julia (2009)

When I first saw the poster for Julie & Julia, I literally went ‘meh’.  A drama with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams as the two leads?  I enjoyed Doubt (which they starred in together in 2008) but this so didn’t look like my type of movie.

However, I later found out that the film was about food.  And that it was based on not one, but two intertwining true stories.  And most of all, the book upon which the film was based arose out of a blog!  That was when the aspiring writer inside convinced me I had to watch it.

I don’t like to spoil the plot, but in this case it helps to provide a bit of background.  Julia Child (Meryl Streep) is a famous American chef and author (pardon my ignorance), and Julie Powell (Amy Adams) is an average woman who attempts to cook every recipe in her cookbook in a year while chronicling her experiences in a blog.  The movie somehow manages to switch seamlessly between the two women – Julia in the 1950s as she learns to cook and piece together her cookbook, and Julie in 2002 she develops her blog project into a web sensation.

So how was it?

Written and directed by Nora Ephron (who last worked on Bewitched in 2005, but also did Sleepless in Seattle), Julie & Julia is very much a relationship drama that seeks to appeal to a predominantly female audience.  The main male characters, Julie and Julia’s husbands (played by Chris Messina and Stanley Tucci, respectively), are portrayed as virtual saints who are completely devoted to their wives.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it made me wish there was more tension in their lives than just burnt stews in the oven.

To be frank, it still wasn’t my type of movie.  The stories of the two women were somewhat interesting.  The food appeared to be absolutely divine.  The performances were superb (as you would expect from Streep and Adams).  Some bits were quite humorous.  And yet, it didn’t do a whole lot for me.  It’s not that it was bland.  It’s just that I wasn’t as absorbed as I thought I would be.  Maybe it’s just me.

On the other hand, the inspiring climb to success of both women was pretty cool.  There’s just something about watching other writers ‘make it’ that gets me all excited.

So to sum it all up, a good movie, but not really for me.

3 stars out of 5!

PJM

Last updated: 2010-01-05 08:50:13 by user04

Julie & Julia — 7

First off, yes i watch chick flicks, and most of the time i dont mind them. this is one of those, that was actually quite good, which is why it got such a good score, but so far no chick flick has ever been above a 7 on my scale. so this is high up there.
Old cook, Julia, grew up all over the world, and lived a long time in Paris, thanks to her husband who worked for the US gov’t. She learned to love French cooking and tried throughout the whole movie to make a cookbook and get it published in the English language, since before her no French cookbooks had ever been printed in French. Other chick, Julie wants to cook every recipie in the book that Julia was trying to make in less than a year.

so already off the bat, you know that Julias book will get published. why they didn’t end her story there was beyond me, but it did help keep your attention throughout the movie, so i guess it was a way to drag on what would have been a boring 60 min movie.

The worst thing about having to watch this movie was that i was soo fucking hungry by the end of it. watching the girls make what looked like delicious food dish after food dish was like watching the food network on overload. Its a good way to get fat, fast.

There were however a lot of redeeming qualities to this movie though like the fact that the Julie was accomplishing her goals, when she never actually had completed anything in her life, by blogging about what she was cooking, and how many recipies were left and how many days were left, people started reading her blog, so it seemed like there was an audience cheering her on from the background.

This movie was also quite the comedy at points, there were times i was laughing so hard that i missed the next line in the movie.

also there was a twist that i honestly did not see coming, and it actually hurt to hear it, but i will let you hear what that twist was.

all in all i actually liked this movie a lot, it had a very nice feel to it, and it made me sooo fucking hungry that i went home and cooked me a godamned steak, i didn’t stop at a fast food place, i actually had the desire to cook.

base score 8
-2 for being a chick flick
+1 for great laughter at moments
-1 for knowing how one of the 2 main characters storylines were going to end from the beginning of the movie
+1 making me want to cook and not spend money on food.
= 7/10

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Last updated: 2010-01-12 01:49:21 by Tolll

Julie & Julia

I don’t know much about Julia Child. I’ve seen a couple of her cooking shows once or twice and didn’t understand how this tall woman with such an odd voice could be so successful a cook, but at the same time I have respect for what she accomplished.
Julie & Julia is intriguing in that it is based on 2 true stories. Ususally when you see something like that at the beginning of a film, it says “based on a true story”, but this one doubles that.
The thing that I find most appealing about this flick is that it endears to those that like to cook. That is the major audience, but it also appeals to everyone else with its overall charm and cuteness.
The bad…there really isn’t much that is bad about this picture, except for it would have been nice to have seen a scene where Julia reacts to Julie’s blog and not just hear about it second-hand from a phone conversation. Of course, the line at the end of the film that says Julie’s book was made into a film was one of those things where you state the obvious. It may have been for a bit of comic effect, but it just didn’t work for me.
The good…the cast is superb. Meryl Streep is cast perfectly as Julia Child (even though she had to stand on stilts ro something to be that tall). Amy Adams lost some of her bubbly cuteness to play Julie, and it didn’t affect her performance one bit. The story, as I mentioned before, is true, but the adaptation into a film was a flash of brilliance. I really liked how they covered both stories simultaneously. In essence, this is two films in one. A film about Julia, and another about Julie. THe segues to both stories are done effortlessly. While I could have done with a tad bit more on the cooking segments, especially with Julia, believe it or not, that wasn’t the focus of this film, the women were, but the filmmakers did such a good job of incorporating all the elements into the film, that everyone was pleased.
While this film strives to have broad appeal, at is heart, it is a chick flick. There is even a line at Julie’s birthday party, before she embarks on her journey through all Julia’s recipes, where she says something to the effect of her blog will be for the women. Her husband them chimes in with something along the lines of, “what abut the men”. She then says, “it’s all about the women”. They pretty much gives you the tone for the film. While I thoroughly enjoyed this film, there really isn’t anything for us guys. That being said, I don’t know the last time I saw a film this close to perfect from top to bottom…at least in modern times. This should be a film seen by all, especially those that love to cook. Besides, it has Meryl Strep in it, so you know it has to be good!

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