When a film is split into two narratives, inevitably there has to be a winner and a loser in the story stakes. If the film is good, the gap between the superior section and the other story is almost unperceivable. Julie & Julia is not one of the good films. It is a run-of-the-mill chick-flick, which is mildly amusing in places. The film’s obvious failing is the canyon-sized gapping hole between the narratives, making the film rather off kilter, with Julia Child’s story being far more engaging than Julie Powell’s.
The film tells the story of a depressed, underachieving office worker, Julie Powell (Amy Adams), whose only passion in life is cooking. At the start of the film Julie is wallowing in self-pity, so her long-suffering husband suggests she starts writing a blog (because what this tedious woman needs is more time to focus on herself!) The premise for the blog sees Julie challenging herself to cook all of the recipes in Julia Child’s groundbreaking cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year.
Juxtaposed to Julie’s story is Julia Childs’s (Meryl Streep), picking up our cuisine heroine in highly romanticised post-war Paris (the rose-tinted glasses worn to portray this time period are brick-wall thick). Julia is intoxicated by the wonders of fresh food and buttery cooking, a revelation to her American palette. With her loving husband, Paul Child’s (Stanley Tucci), support she struggles to find a purpose in Parisian society until she enrols in the Cordon Bleu school, and so the legend of Julia Child is born.
Many of the problems with the film have to be attributed to director, Nora Ephron. The film’s cast looks impressive on paper, but Ephron leaves Amy Adams hanging out to dry, with a sort of cruelty that should get reported to the RSPCA (just change the A from animals to actors). Adams has little ammunition to compete with heavyweights of Streep and Tucci’s calibre. The depiction of Julie (Adams) is really confusing. We are meant to feel sorry for her- hitting 30, with a job she hates, friends who pay her no attention and a nagging mother. But Julie is so unlikeable. The problem is, even though she drunkenly confesses to one of her extremely tolerate friends, ‘I’m a bitch’, she isn’t. If Julie was one of those witty, interesting bitchy characters the film could have been fun. Unfortunately Adams and Ephron have chosen to play Julie as obnoxious, oblivious to anyone else. You barrack for her to fail her cooking quest, even though you know the annoying cow will succeed- this is an Ephron film of course- the eternal optimist who brought us Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail.
What the filmmakers don’t seem to have worked out is that comparing Julie to Julia is like contrasting spam with steak, there are similarities, but the first one will leave you with a nasty taste in your mouth. While Streep’s Julia Child character is everything you want to be as a person; adaptable, brave, determined, sociable: Julie Powell epitomises everything you fear you are; whiny, self-absorbed, inconsiderate, envious and impotent. Given that this reviewer finds the prospect of any future collaboration between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan terrifying, it is probably fair to say I’m not the target audience for Julie & Julia. If you are a fan of Streep and/or Tucci, you will definitely get an opportunity to see masters at work, sadly there isn’t really much else to recommend this film.
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Director: Nora Ephron
Cast: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina Linda Emond, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Jane Lynch, Frances Sternhagen
Release Date 8th October
I think you’re being a little harsh, judging the movie by your opinion. I don’t agree with anything you said except about Meryl Streep.