Julie & Julia: The Movie Review

**** / ***** (4 of 5 stars)

A few years ago we stopped at the Smithsonian and toured Julia Child's kitchen. I was fascinated by the story of the lengths Paul went through to design the kitchen for Julia. While I have no desire to cook my way through the french cookbook, I think the story resonated with me so much because I understand the hero worship that Julie had for this woman.

Nora Ephron captures the nuances of relationship better than most directors I enjoy. It's not in anything really flashy but it is in the small gestures like a pat on the head before bed or a cuddle or this scene in the movie where Julie finds out that Julia might not like her and there is a progression of several quick scenes where Julie's husband is there supporting her with love and encouragement sitting crosslegged on a bed.

I also liked the fact that Nora was able to tell two stories. Entertwined they made each story richer. Like bread and butter almost.

Julie and Julia is a movie about a soon to be 30-year old Julie (played brilliantly by Amy Adams) who just doesn't think she's done anything with her 30-year old self so she decides to blog her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Along the way she learns to cook, but more importantly she finds joy.

This movie was based off a book by the same name and I have to admit I read the book before seeing the movie and the book doesn't exactly cover near as much of the ecessence of Julia Child's story. It was almost as if Nora took a look at the story and decided to merge in bits and pieces from a few other memoirs of Julia Child to help round out the story and I really think it was well done. It helped draw parallels to Julia and Julie that were somewhat missing from reading the book.

Meryl Streep plays Julia Child brilliantly as well. She was julia - not just Meryl playing Julia. For such an iconic character, it was well done and not over the top - right down to the shoulder hunch.

Much of my childhood was spent at my grandmother's house and on Saturday afternoons we would set up the tv and watch the frugal gourmet and julia child. Oma would get so upset that Julia would take her fingers and taste everything or dip a spoon and taste and double dip the spoon again. In watching this movie, I too am reminded of my grandmother's personality and I've landed on the conclusion that Julia Child and my grandmother might have been cut from the same cloth as Oma used to not censor herself and pretty much just told it like she saw it. She also enjoyed cooking and experiments often just went awry but Oma would just go with the flow and piece something together.

I enjoyed the idea that this was about a blog too. Many people don't understand the idea of writing in a blog. Why do we send our thoughts and hopes and dreams out to srangers? That part just cracked me up, because I get asked that quite a bit. Much like foodies savor a flavor and it sends a memory to the soul I think a crafted sentence might do the same thing for those people who enjoy writing. You really don't think anyone is going to read but the joy in crafting a sentence might just be fun to share.

I enjoyed this movie for so many reasons (including seeing it with my dear friend Amy) but ultimately it comes down to this very simple thought: joy needs to be savored but to get the right flavor, I think true joy needs to be shared.