Julie & Julia

Written and Directed By: Nora Ephron

Starring: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina, and Jane Lynch

Director of Photography: Stephen Goldblatt, Editor: Richard Marks, Production Designer: Mark Ricker, Original Music: Alexandre Desplat

Rated: PG-13 for brief strong language and some sensuality

    A confession—my secret art that I truly enjoy more than anything else, is the artistry of cooking. A big pot of spaghetti stew, a grilled tilapia served over garlic and green beans, or a sliced beef with vegetables sautéed in white wine with orzo, cooking is a passion that is becoming a smaller and smaller part of our culture. I cook whenever I can, experimenting with new recipes and preparing classics, because cooking is truly an art, which is something that began with Julia Child. Its easy to miss how much of Child’s work created a food culture in America. Her first book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, taught the home chef that cooking was not a chore but an adventure, and her television series pioneered the entire Food Network.

    So the life story of Julia Child, especially with none other than Meryl Streep in the leading role, is something that had my teeth chattering to bite into. But writer-director Nora Ephron has not only told the story of Julia Child, but of another woman as well, Julie Powell. The stories in Julie & Julia are meant to compliment each other, and breathe new life into each other. But more than anything else, one just pulverizes the other into a beaten egg. This is not too much the fault of Ms. Ephron, a writer who creates strong female women who never need to learn that a man is the answer to their problems (looking at you, The Ugly Truth and The Proposal).

    When we aren’t seeing Ms. Streep take on the role of Julia Child as she learns cooking in a Paris school, Ms. Ephron treats us to another delectable actress, Amy Adams, as Julie Powell. In 2002, Ms. Powell, who worked as a low level assistant in the clean-up of the 9/11 attacks, started a blog in which she planned to cook the 500-some recipes in Ms. Child’s book in just over a year. The story is meant to serve as a backbone to the legacy of Child as well as ground it for the everyday character—Julia Child may have been a character, but underneath her life was just as simple as Julie Powell’s.

    But it is hard to take that in when Ms. Streep and Ms. Ephron breathe such life in Julia Child’s story. Set at the turn of the 1950s, the film follows Child’s original passion in cooking that leads to her helping create the book that changed cooking in America. To say Ms. Streep gives another mind blowing performance is cliché, but there is no other way to describe it. Despite being eight inches shorter than Child, she knows how to fill the screen with her charm and radiance. Its rarely just the mannerisms with Ms. Streep—which she knocks down perfectly anyway—but her ability to find the nuance within the ticks and words. She’s a delight on screen because she knows how to have fun with the role, taking over the frame with simply her bolstering presence every time she steps on screen. Needless to say, her scenes with her husband, played by Stanley Tucci, are even more delicious to chew on. 

    All of this, leaves Ms. Adams trying to breathe life into a story that is nowhere near as interesting. But writing the most important cook book of our time is not the same as blogging about it, and the luscious streets and kitchens of Paris are not comparable to the simplicity of Queens. Ms. Adams does what she can with the story of Julie Powell, as well as the great Chris Messina as her husband, but Ms. Streep towers over her like the giant Julia Child was.

    But that is not to say Julie’s story is useless, or even bad (though it would never stand as its own film). But one of the delights of Julie & Julia is Ms. Ephron’s ability to bring pleasure to every scene. It’s a film that breathes in the smells and enjoys basting in the flavors of life. Its about being delightful, in the spirit of Julia Child, bringing things together to create something truly wonderful.