|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
JULIE & JULIA |
  |
|
I feely admit that even as a man I
generally enjoy Nora Ephron films. In case you
aren’t familiar with her she has been involved in films such as "When Harry
Met Sally", "You've Got Mail", "Sleepless in Seattle", and "Michael". The last three
she directed. She is a queen of the so-called chick flick genre. Her latest endeavor is rather
interesting. She took two popular books - the recent best seller Julie & Julia by Julie Powell and
Julia Child's memoir My Life in France
- and smushed them together to get "Julie & Julia". She then cast two actresses that came across very well recently and
cast them in the co-leads: Meryl Streep as Julia
Child and Amy Adams as Julie Powell. To tip the scale she cast Stanley Tucci as Julia Child's doting husband Paul Child. "Julie & Julia" is delightful
though a bit flat at times. |
|
|
|
|
|
It is about a New York woman in a
nowhere job as an insurance customer service rep who decides her life sucks.
She declares to her husband Eric (Chris Messina) that she needs to do
something different. We all know that in movies (if not
in real life) when a character declares a changes is
a coming, that its not good. Nevertheless, she quits her job and
starts a blog based on her cooking all 500+ recipes in Julia Child's cookbook
on Mastering the Art French Cooking. From this point the film darts back
and forth between Julia Childs life in Frances 40 some years ago and Julie
Powell’s year long project. Make no mistake,
it is Julia Child's half of the film that makes the film work. Meryl Streep is marvelous as she somehow pulls off portraying
the 6 feet 2 inch Julia Child who decides to enroll in a cooking school while
her diplomat hubby was assigned to France. She charges into the kitchen
“fearlessly” to confront the stove and her fellow chefs. I imagine the Ephron had Streep on boxes to
pull off Julia Child's height advantage over the French men. But Streep
does it with and eerie similarity in the voice. I used to watch Child's show
from time to time on PBS and then on the Food Network before she died and I
could close my eyes and swear Streep was Julia. The added bonus of Stanley Tucci as Paul Child was the piece d’resistance.
He is perfect as the doting husband who adores his wife no matter what she
does. |
|
|
|
|
|
Amy Adams half as Julie Powell
wasn’t quite as perfect. She leaves her not so doting husband
having to support the two of them on a salary that barely makes it. Moreover,
she apparently wasn’t much of a cook before and she doesn't finish any of the
meals until nearly midnight. By then her husband is starving and hardly
appreciates the work. This naturally creates friction in
the marriage and there is a point when he walks out. That makes sense. But what didn’t make sense;
especially with Ephron's history of keeping it real
was how were they able to afford the groceries for these extravagant meals. I
don’t think I fell asleep and missed the scene where they won the lotto! This
is a couple that could barely make ends meet with both working and now they are down to one income and
eating better than kings. Yeah, right. Unlike "The Devil Wears Prada" we
don’t get the Streep/Adams interaction as their
characters are generates apart. They never meet. The film is merely a study
of their two lives. But "Julie & Julia" does work. And
it works about as well as the two cooks in the kitchen did - a bit messy with
a spill or two, but tasty overall. --GEOFFREY BURTON
|
|
