Julie & Julia (2009): A Delicious Slice of Life, Served Warm
Written: Sep 15 '09 (Updated Sep 15 '09)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Tastefully entertaining.
Cons: Few if any.
The Bottom Line: A fine film with excellent acting.
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| Ed.Williamson's Full Review: Julie & Julia |
One of the best films of 2009 is Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Women will click with this flick, but men will also find it very interesting and entertaining as well. I'm not sure if those under 30 will like it as much as we above that marker, but I suspect that many younger people will.
This is a true story about two women who find themselves through reinventing themselves. In this case, the medium of their reinvention is through cooking, an art almost lost for some but heartily found by these two women- Julia Child (played by Streep) and Julia Powell (played by Adams), but one suspects that they might have succeeded as well in some other medium; it's just that cooking suits their, well, taste. Julia Child was a woman living in Paris with her American government official husband Paul (Stanley Tucci) in the late 1940s. Julia Child was enchanted with French cuisine, and became a fine cook, who then wrote a best-selling book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, for Americans, which led to another career as a chef on television. Years later, Julie Powell, an aspiring NYC writer tired of her telephone tech-support-type job, married to her husband Eric (Chris Messina), picked up Child's cookbook and decided to blog her experiences trying to cook her way through all 524 recipes, an experience which itself resulted in success. Sensing many similarities, director-writer Nora Ephron explored the parallel stories of both women to produce a movie which, with the star-power of Streep and Adams, is both fascinating and pleasing, along with being educational in the art of cooking, but even more in the art of becoming a new person following one's passion.
Nora Ephron, of course, nearly always gives us not only a fine story but also directs fine performances from her players. Of the four major actors, I would rate their performances as Streep- first, Tucci- second, Adams- third, and Messina- fourth. We expect the illustrious Meryl Streep to deliver, of course, and she plays Juia Child with a wit and flourish that dazzles and delights. Stanley Tucci, a fine character actor in everything in which he appears, gives us another strong and understated support role here. Amy Adams has a narrower range of script options than Streep in which to work, and yet, too delivers, but not quite as confidently as Streep, although very effectively nonetheless. After all, Julia Child is a legend, and any biographer of hers would naturally be given a lesser weight. Chris Messina is also well on-board in his supporting performance, but his role, reflective of the Julia/Paul Child relationship in comparison with the Julie/Eric Powell relationship, is somewhat lighter in the script than that of Tucci's work, and so he rounds out the foursome with a good effort, but perhaps not quite as impressive as the others.
Two things stood out to me in the story. First, I liked the way both women decided to take their respective leaps of faith and move out of their comfort zones into deep water, overcoming the barriers, and complete their tasks. Neither journey was without difficulty, but both women stayed the course and were suitably rewarded for all their daring and hard work. Second, I liked the way the women and their men worked together in their marriages and respective careers, supporting each other in unity and understanding. The two couples' love for each other in their respective partnerships was an essential component in the successes they all shared in. It was a true educational display of how good marriages work in the age of men and women each have careers which are important to themselves.
Much of the story centers around French cooking, of course. If you like food (who doesn't?) you will enjoy the ecstacy of the women in their successes and their horror at their occasional faux-pas with culinary delights. The sheer sensuality of the way in which both Streep and Adams work and play with their creations is a reminder that beyond the world of fast-food to which many in the modern industrialized societies have become addicted, there is a better world out there. And one is reminded that a better world may also be out there beyond some of the other compromises we make in modern and conventional music, art, literature, and certainly, in relationships. Fast may be convenient, but deep is always more satisfying in the long run.
This is a great film and if you like the other fims of Nora Ephron, such as When Harry Met Sally (1989) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993), you will enjoy this little, er, feast of delight. Men and women never have it so good as in her films.
Five stars/ *****
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Feel-good Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: A few glitches, but mostly complete.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing
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Ed.Williamson
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Member: Ed Williamson
Location: Way Out West, USA
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