Julie & Julia

I love Nora Ephron movies.  It started with a little film she wrote entitled When Harry Met Sally.  It continued with Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail.  One of my guilty pleasure movies is Mixed Nuts.  And I am probably one of the few people who liked Bewitched.  I am not sure what it is about Nora's films that makes me love them so.  It could be her quirky characters.  It could be that they make me laugh.  Whatever it is, all I know is I love them.  I went to the theater this afternoon and saw her latest film, Julie & Julia, and let me tell you, Nora has done it again.  I absolutely loved this film.

Julie & Julia is about a woman named Julie Powell.  She and her husband are living in New York in a small apartment over a pizza place.  She is nearing thirty and works at a job she hates.  She had at one time wanted to become a writer but long gave up that dream.  All of her friends are highly successful in their given fields and Julie feels like she isn't accomplishing anything.  The only thing that brings her joy is cooking.  Her husband gives her the idea to start a blog about cooking.  She decided to take on the task of cooking all the recipes out of Julia Child's cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  Since Julie has a habit of starting things and not following through, she decides to cook the 524 recipes in 1 year.  The film depicts not only how Julie accomplishes this task, but also how Julia Child came about writing her cookbook.

Amy Adams, who portrays Julie, is wonderful.  She had me cracking up.  There is a scene where she has to cook lobsters that is absolutely hilarious.  She also portrays Julie's angst about not accomplishing anything significant beautifully.  Having gone through times like this in my own life, I totally connected with her. 

Meryl Streep is absolutely perfect as Julia Child.  She had her down perfectly.  After the last few films I have seen her in (Mamma Mia and Doubt), I am beginning to think she can do no wrong.   I also thought Stanley Tucci was excellent as Julia's husband Paul Childs. To be quite honest, I had no clue that Julia Child was married.  I dearly hope that I can find a man one day that is totally devoted to me as Paul was to Julia.

This movie is based on the true story of Julie Powell who actually cooked her way through Julia Child's cookbook.  Her blog was titled The Julie/Julia Project.  She eventually wrote the book entitled Julie and Julia.  The movie also is based on Julia Child's autobiography,  My Life in France.

I really loved this movie. (Did I say that already?)  I would highly recommend it.