Review of the movie Julie and Julia ... (very minor spoilers)

PLOT: Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell's 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child's first book. The film presents two separate stories that it intertwines though out, switching from one time period to the other.


I have to say ... I have never seen a movie with less drama in my life. There is more drama crossing a deserted highway than watching this movie. I mean, the drama was little, and the comedy was generally light, and the mood was mostly pleasant throughout. If you want a feel good movie with a lot of cooking, this movie is for you. I found it utterly boring, I'm not going to lie.

I think for me it was the story. Amy Adams character was actually very similar to me (ok, 5 years older), but just moved to Queens, engaging in jobs she didn't train for (I just moved to Brooklyn, and have yet to have a job related to my music degree) ... and generally questioning whether she was making the right call. Hell, I'm also an amateur chef who LOVES to cook.

So ... here I am, watching Julie Powell, really connecting with her on those levels. So, in her early/midlife-crisis, she decides to start a blog, then decides to do it about cooking, then decides that she will cook through Julia Child's cookbook in one year. 524(?) recipes in 365 days. That's her blog. It was shortly after here where her story stopped being interesting.

There just wasn't enough drama at the front, eventually some s--- hits the fan, but it takes a long time, and by that time, my eyes were glancing at the nearest digital clock. It's just such a sugary, happy-go-lucky story, and you know exactly where it's headed very early on.

The other part of this film is a sort of bio-pic of Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep), mainly involving the writing of the cookbook Julie Powell tries to emulate. (I don't know accurately, but I think the dates mostly went from 1950-1965 maybe). Julia is also just moving to Paris at the start of this movie, and she is also lost in her life, finding herself restless and looking for SOMETHING to do. She decides to take cooking classes.

The first class produces one of the funnier scenes in the movie, where Julia, after class, decides to practice chopping onions at home. The husband walks into a two foot tall pile of chopped onions on the counter ... ... ...

Suffice it to say, she finishes her cooking school, starts teaching with a pair of lady chefs who are trying to write a French cookbook for American women. She ends up joined into the process ... the story goes from there.

Once again, the story is exactly what you expect it to be, and it's very sugary and happy ... and mind numbing.

Another thing to point out is the number of times this movie, sort of, throws in little bones of interest. For instance, Julie Powell, cooking everyday while holding down a s----- full time job, ends up having a confrontation with her boss at work. There is literally about 1 minute of screen time paid to that possible sub-plot in the movie. It's just so short and random.

On Julia's side, her sister is introduced into the movie, she gets married and we find out she's pregnant shortly afterward. Julia is seen crying on her husband's shoulder because she (apparently) never had kids. She tries to be happy but she cries, and Meryl Streep nails the scene, absolutely nails it, it's very moving scene; but, once again, this possible sub-plot drama is confined to just one scene that lasts a minute or two. (maybe 20 minutes of the entire movie if you start at the introduction of Julia's sister.)

As mentioned, Meryl Streep absolutely throws down on her role. It's great acting from one end until the other. I personally never saw Julia Child, so I can't say how she compares, but she had me fully bought into that character. Amy Adams also did a great job, I loved her character, though I felt that the script sort of left her hanging a couple of times.

Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina have good turns at being the husbands (Paul Child and Eric Powell). Stanley Tucci is particularly fine. I've never heard of him, but if that's his craft I'll happily watch something else he's done.

The minor actress' are all fit into their parts well, no complaints.

Overall rating ... 2 out of 5 ... for me. I personally found the movie to be light-hearted, feel good affair, and I just want more substance in it. I would never watch it again. I like light-hearted, feel good movies, but this was just way to 'light' for me.

However, 3 out of 5 if you like those feel-good, happy-go-lucky movies, or you really want to know a bit about Julia Child's start in cooking, or you want to see Meryl Streep at her best, even. This isn't a terrible way to spend two hours.