Julie & Julia (review)
The Joy of Cooks
It’s not about saving the Earth from a giant asteroid and there’s no CGI rodents and Michael Bay had nothing to do with it and it doesn’t feature “characters” named after toys and it’s not even about guys partying so hard in Vegas they can’t remember anything. It’s just about two women doing something for themselves, for their own amusement and enlightenment, and not even to please their men -- hell, they’re not even competing for the same man!
So of course it’s downright unimportant, even dismissible, even grading on the summer-fluff scale.
Is Julie & Julia summer-fluffy? Yeah, sorta, kinda. Neither Julia Child in 1948 nor Julie Powell in 2002 were in danger of destitution and death, never mind planetary destruction: they were just bored and directionless. What’s the big deal about that? That’s what most women have been coping with forever -- you’d just never guess that from Hollywood movies. And for this Hollywood movie to determine that that’s not a good place for a woman to be, and that the solution to the problem does not involve a new romance or a new baby, a decision that many real women have, of course, been making for themselves forever, too... well, there’s something a little bit radical about that.
Julie Powell (Amy Adams: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Doubt) is happily married, actually, in 2002, to Eric (Chris Messina: Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Made of Honor), an editor at Archaeology magazine. (Small disclaimer: the real Eric Powell is a former professional colleague of mine, though I had no idea this story was about his wife until halfway through the movie.) But she’s depressed by her job, at a New York City agency dedicated to helping businesses and individuals get back on their feet after 9/11. There’s no hint at all in the chipper trailers for the film of a connection to that terrible day, but it’s completely appropriate here, and gives Julie’s side of the tale a tangy poignancy. Though the project Julie embarked upon later become famous enough to drive the creation of her bestselling book, Julie & Julia [Amazon U.S.] [Amazon U.K.], and now this film, her idea to cook her way through the 500-plus recipes of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking [Amazon U.S.] [Amazon U.K.] in 365 days, and to blog about it along the way, was not conceived as any kind of stunt or grab for media attention, but just a way to reconnect to the joy of life that so many New Yorkers were desperately seeking back then.
Julia Child (Meryl Streep: Mamma Mia!, Doubt) is happily married, too, to American diplomat Paul (Stanley Tucci: The Tale of Despereaux, Space Chimps) as they arrive in Paris in 1948 for his new posting. Their life can only be called deliriously blissful: they’re madly in love, Paris is gorgeous, and the food...! But Julia had had a career of her own, most recently in the OSS -- the forerunner to the CIA -- during the war, and as any honest woman will tell you (and as Hollywood almost always denies), romance is the icing on the cake of life, not life itself. She needs something to do, so she goes to the snooty French cooking school, Le Cordon Bleu -- which is mostly dedicated to turning men into chefs, the proper way of things -- meets up with fellow female gourmands outside the school, and embarks with them upon her own immense project: writing that book that Julie Powell will start cooking her way through fifty years later. (Much later, she will write, with her nephew Alex Prud’homme, the memoir My Life in France [Amazon U.S.] [Amazon U.K.], which screenwriter-director Nora Ephron [Bewitched, You've Got Mail] would use as the basis for the Child half of Julie & Julia.)
Julie and Julia never meet -- the two stories never interact -- but they are deeply connected anyway... and not just in the obvious way. The doubt and the delight they experience as their projects take wild swings of success and failure are mirrored in the giddily joyful performances of Adams and Streep: spending time with them is like spending time with the kind of friends who support you and love you no matter what. (Unlike Julie’s friends, high-powered yet self-denying women who, in one notable if quick moment, act as food police to Julie, snatching a breadstick from her mouth. Or Julie’s own mother, who advises her daughter to “just quit” her ridiculous cooking and blogging.) Just as Julie takes solace and direction from Julia’s verve and confidence, Julia is bolstered by her longtime correspondence with a Boston woman she has never even met, who later turns out to have the publishing connections that set Julia on her path to fame.
But those are merely small details woven into a story that is glorious and cheerful and inspiring. This is a story full of verve, the kind of vivacity it’s sometimes easy to forget we should all always be living with.
And now, I want to devour that luscious-looking deboned-duck-in-pastry dish. Or that boeuf bourguignon that Julie had to make twice. Or brie and baguette and wine. Or lobster. Or... just, you know, life.
viewed at a semipublic screening with an audience of critics and ordinary moviegoersrated PG-13 for brief strong language and some sensuality
official site | IMDB | trailer | more reviews at MRQE
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comments
posted by Oliver (Thu Aug 06 09, 8:57AM)
Great review
posted by Kate (Thu Aug 06 09, 4:30PM)
Fab review. Can't wait to see this.
posted by stephanie (Thu Aug 06 09, 5:45PM)
It's ridiculous how much I'm looking for to this movie. I'm so glad to hear that Nora Ephron hasn't given us another Bewitched, because I haven't seen Meryl Streep be this delightfully campy in a while and I want to enjoy it.
But Streep and Amy Adams don't even get one scene together? Darn.
posted by Savannah (Fri Aug 07 09, 3:35PM)
This is a delightful review. I've been wanting to see "Julie & Julia" anyway (along with my mom, who is one of my best friends and who introduced me to Julia Child--via "The French Chef"--when I was little). It's good to hear it's as fun as it looks in the preview.
posted by Thera Pitts (Sat Aug 08 09, 6:43AM)
I got back from the movie with my mother this afternoon, and we immediately found her boeuf bourguignon recipe and made it that very night. We were up until 3 am cooking and arguing about whether to put the mushrooms in before or after baking it for 2 and a half hours (it was after) Then we watched Definitely, Maybe on my DVR, talked about everything and nothing and ate what was quite possibly the greatest thing ever. I spend so much of my time at comic book stores and arcades with my guy friends I forgot how good it felt to have a genuine, soul nourishing girl's night in. This was by far the best bandwagon I've ever hopped on.
posted by Anne-Kari (Sat Aug 08 09, 9:15AM)
@Thera: Best comment ever.
posted by nyjm (Sat Aug 08 09, 9:46AM)
I was lucky enough to see this movie at a preview in mid-July. Here is my opinion:
SEE. THIS. FILM.
MJ's review is spot on. It's a delightful tale of women in the modern world, fabulously conceived and executed, with enough depth to please us feminists and enough well-acted drama to please anyone.
Let me repeat:
SEE. THIS. FILM.
posted by Albert Hahn (Mon Aug 10 09, 2:53AM)
What, no comment about the two stories being
one story too much, as others have suggested?
You haven't even given
a hint as to which story you preferred!
I loved the movie (both stories) even tho I don't
like Julia Childs or Meryl Streep or cooking.
But I am an Amy Adams fan. Also I'll take
Debra Winger over Shirley MacLaine
and Tom Cruise over Dustin Hoffman
to right two Oscar injustices:-)
posted by MaryAnn (Mon Aug 10 09, 8:00AM)
Here's a hint: Maybe I didn't prefer one over the other. Why must I?
posted by Katie Dvorak (Thu Aug 13 09, 10:15AM)
I saw this last night in a packed movie theater (a random Wednesday night? Movie's got legs) and absolutely loved it. I completely related to Julie's sense of being directionless and wanting to see just one project through. The movie made me want to cook, something I do not do. And it was such a huge relief to see the men in this movie be real and supportive of their partner's for no other reason than they love them and want them to be happy and succeed.
Just a really great movie.
posted by Sara (Thu Aug 13 09, 11:20PM)
TAKE HEED: THIS MIGHT COUNT AS A SPOILER COMMENT.
I liked this movie, but do think they might have over-dramatized the Julie story. I mean, I get it. The project became an obsession, became symbolic. But unless, for example, she and her husband exchanged some particularly terrible phrases to each other (i.e. not in the movie, in real life), I didn't buy that one instance of yelling and a hint or two about lack of sex (due to the busyness of the project and not genuine disinterest in one's husband) would threaten a marriage that otherwise looked fine. Julie's meltdowns were also a bit much and she came across as a generally uninteresting person, at least to me. I kept wanting Meryl to take back the show. But yes, it does inspire one to cook. And, as a writer, it reminds me to get cracking on that, too. ;)
posted by Sherry (Mon Aug 17 09, 1:28PM)
I saw this with 3 female friends and ate at an Italian cafe afterwards (french cafes being non-existent in my area). It's definitely a good idea to celebrate food in some way after seeing this movie, and for once don't eat popcorn.
While I don't think this was the best role yet given to Amy Adams (maybe June Bug or Sunshine Cleaning -- I do love to see her sparkle and emote), I think she did well with the role. Meryl Streep, however, was marvelous. It's amazing how she morphs into a character.
I think the atmospheres in the two stories played well off each other. They had in common good marriages and the love of cooking and the women feeling a bit lost in the beginning. But there was the contrasts as well, with Julie's life in post 9/11 New York, her thoroughly depressing job, and a depressing apartment. It was good to have the mostly funny, light and cheery atmosphere shown when switching to Julia in France, although there were a few worrisome times shown in her life for spice. It did seem that the ebullient happiness of Julia and her love of cooking made it's way through the recipes and into Julie Powell's kitchen, her blog, and her life.