Julie and Julia

That's right, it's time for a movie review.

I know you're all stoked for it. Today's movie is Julie and Julia.

Some background on Julia Child and me.

My mother was a Julia Child fanatic. I remember growing up and watching her on WHYY, trying to figure out whether or not her voice really was that shrill. My mother would tell me stories about how she and her sisters (she has five sisters) would drive my grandmother nuts by watching that show (apparently grandmom isn't a fan).

So, it was with great anticipation that I decided to go see Julie and Julia. I grabbed my favorite movie partner (who is, of course, my loving Pookie...he was the only male in the audience), and off we went. I think we were the only people in there under forty, but hey, that's ok. I didn't care. I think Pookie was a little more disconcerted because he was surrounded by females.

In all honesty, it was ok. Not great. But, worth the ten bucks we spent to get in nonetheless. So, I rate it as a sucess. It's a light fun-hearted film with a gooey marshmellow center.

I like the way that the film was set up - it basically tells two people's stories simultaneously.
This layout provides the viewer with an insight on how one person's life can dramatically affect another's, without the two ever even having met.

The one complaint I have about the movie is that it leaned more towards Julie Powell's perspective. This kind of makes me wonder whether or not that was their intention all along - to make it from Powell's perspective and just put Julia in when needed. After all, Powell's husband tells her that it's the Julia in her head that's important, not the Julia in real life. Which makes me wonder if maybe the Julia portion of the film was supposed to be styled after what Powell thought of her.

However, the movie is quoted as being influenced from both Julie Powell's memoir and My Life in France, by Julia Child. So I'm probably just grasping at straws there. I'm guessing that the more likely explaination is that they decided to just do a movie about Child's life whist writing the book, and the line was unintentionally thought-provoking.

Meryl Streep's performance is pretty spiffy. The resemblence to Juilia Child is scarily accurate, and I'm pretty sure she must have spent a good bit of time pouring over The French Chef, along with all of Child's other televised performances. From her height in the movie (she easily towers over all the other characters) to the warbling of her voice, Streep does Child proud.

Amy Adams' performance was ok. It wasn't on the caliber of Meryl Streep's (that is, I never forgot that it was Amy Adams playing Powell), but it wasn't an altogether horrible performance either. Because honestly, let's face it, Amy Adams is freaking adorable in everything that she does. She's always reminded me of a little pixie.

So there you have it world. I rate the movie at three and a half stars. It was light, fluffy, and not a bad way to spend a rainy afternoon.