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Directed By
Nora Ephron
Written By:
Nora Ephron, Julia Child, Julie Powell, Alex Prud'homme
Cast:
Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Jane Lynch, Stanley Tucci, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Vanessa Ferlito, Dave Annable, Chris Messina, Catherine Haena Kim, Casey Wilson, Lindsay Felton, Jillian Bach, Brian Avers, Deborah Rush, Linda Emond, Tom Stratford, Marceline Hugot, Paul Borghese, Helen Carey, Gary Cherkassky, Kelly AuCoin, Helen Coxe, Aristedes Philip DuVal, Megan Byrne, Peter Conboy, Adam S. Phillips, Peter Riga, Isaac Schinazi, Ken Sladyk, Joey Sontz, Paul Thornton, Ken Wharton, Robert Emmet Lunney, James P. Anderson, Julia Prud'homme, Eric Sheffer Stevens, Nancy Digonis, Lou D'Amato, Andrew Garman, Kacie Sheik, Simon Feil, Roy William Gardner, Crystal Noelle, Michael Brian Dunn, Ira Berkowitz, Alyssa Polacsek, Jonah Triebwasser, Tom Galantich, Luc Palun, Sabina Janay Paellmann, Lou Sumrall
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Julie & Julia (2009)
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Like the most of my generation, I knew little of Julia Child save for the few things provided by her cultural icon status: she was a chef, she talked funny and she was on television. I assumed from these factual tidbits, and from my familiarity with the Food Network, that she was some sort of tired food snob and nothing else. That was until I happened upon an interview where she revealed her love for fast food. "McDonald's could be very good ... and so can Burger King. But the Burger King's french fries are very good, I think," she said. Then I viewed a program of her cooking with long time friend chef Jacques Pepin which brought her infectious personality and humor to life. From that point on, I knew she was special.
Apparently, someone else thought the same thing and wrote a blog about it, The Julie/Julia Project, an ambitious task where, over the course of one year, author Julie Powell took on all 524 recipes in Child's influential two-volume work "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". It became a book and, subsequently, Julie and Julia, Nora Ephron's biographic dramedy following the lives of Child (Meryl Streep) and Powell (Amy Adams) during their literary endeavors, Child with her book, and Powell with her blog. I applaud Ephron for putting a new spin on a genre that is highly susceptible to clichés, especially considering that her movies usually have the same effect on me as a kick to the head.
In terms of character, you can't go wrong with Child whose dedication, charm and love of life could, as her husband (played by Stanley Tucci) puts it, "bring out the best in a polecat." Then again, the woman lived in the prosperous new world that was post-World War Paris, a time brimming with possibilities and new hope. Streep takes on the role with a zest, and her portrayal is no mere impersonation; how the 60-year-old, 5' 6" actress managed to convincingly bring the middle-aged, 6' 2" Child to life is quite a feat.
Powell is another story. She lives and works in post-9/11 New York, a time that starkly contrasts with the rustic beauty of France, which is illustrated through cut after cut between her cramped apartment in Queens and Child's sunny Parisian loft. She's a neurotic, insufferable whiner who frets over her inability to live up to the accomplishments of her careerist friends and acts like turning thirty is the end of the world. She writes the blog as a way to finally finish something and make a name for herself, and one would think that all the rich, decadent comfort food she has to consume would at least make her more pleasant. But it doesn't, and with every breakdown she has you take relief in knowing that soon you'll be back in Julia's narrative thread and basking in her delightful presence.
If I were the real Julie Powell, I would be aghast at the movie version of me. It's not Adams's fault, an actress any rational woman would be flattered to have play her; she does what she can with the character, but if someone as cute and charming as she can't pull it off, than no one could. The problem is that Ephron likes to pigeonhole modern women into two distinct categories: hysterical basket cases, or ambitious ice queens. If Child wasn't already a fully formed persona, she probably would've ended up as a caricature herself. But fortunately she doesn't, which makes the Julia portion, at least, a thoroughly enjoyable romp.
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