Julie and Julia (2009)

Nora Ephron's terrible miscalculation doesn't spoil things completely but it certainly hurts what it could have been, one of the best films of the year with a superlative performance by Meryl Streep. The performance more than survives, thank God, because I believe in years to come it will be considered one of Meryl's best. Imagine that! I loved her! Her Julia Child is total, complete, overwhelming, enchanting, inspiring. A woman of her day that was way, way ahead, in every department. A woman who was capable of love in the most direct and powerful way. She even loved the French for all the right reasons. When the films moves away from her the film suffers, terribly. The modern, neurotic kitchen of the modern woman is much more "passè" than the vintage one. In fact the vintage one is the ultra modern. But, as Billy Wilder used to say, we have to take the bitter with the sour. The film gets your gastric juices going and vindicates the power of butter in a way we hadn't seen since Last Tango In Paris. Stanley Tucci is also a delight and a perfect foil for her much taller wife. Bravo Meryl. once more, thank you, you're my hero.

Fmovies: I saw this film in preview last evening and believe it's a winner on several levels. The performances by the leads and the many supporting roles are great - you can't help loving the characters portrayed. The biographic nature of the 'Juila' story combines nicely with the more present day 'Julie' storyline - leaving the viewer to route for Julie's cooking goal while simply falling in love with Meryl Streep's Julia Child. In both stories we are treated to the women's relationship with food, husbands and the challenging worlds they inhabit. Predominantly, there is a real sweetness about the support each husband gives his wife and a fair amount of chuckles throughout. I'll admit that there could have been a few more edits but this film still satisfies while paying homage to the iconic figure that Julia Child is.

i never really liked Meryl Streep that much until "Doubt" last year. and i've always been in love with Amy Adams. so when i found out the two were in yet another film together, i jumped at the chance to go to a prescreening.

i expected the film to be good, but it was even better than expected. humor was one of the driving forces of the film, but that didn't take away from some more serious moments- rather, it accentuated them and made them all the more poignant and even heartbreaking.

Ms. Streep is nothing short of perfect as cooking personality Julia Child. in fact, it may be the best performance yet i've seen from her. hilarious, lovable, passionate, and tender, she hit every note perfectly.

Ms. Adams, likewise, was superb as Julie Powell, a government worker who decided to tackle Julia Child's 500+ recipes in her groundbreaking cook book in a year's time while documenting online the whole process in a blog.

the two true stories are perfectly balanced, and the screenplay (adapted by the director Nora Ephron) strikes some wonderful parallels between the two women, and paints, or rather, cooks up two great ingredients to become one delicious dish.

there is a bit of a lag in the second half of the movie, but this is forgiven by the fact that the movie never becomes distracted from its purpose. excellent cast, fantastic story-telling, and wonderful direction. Julie & Julia will have you holding out your dish begging for more.

Julie and Julia fmovies. "Julie & Julia" is based on the book by the same name, which is based on the true story by Julie Powell about "The Julie & Julia Project". Julie (Amy Adams) is a government employee working in New York City in the year following 9/11. She, her husband Eric (Chris Messina) and their cat live in an apartment above a pizza parlor. All of her friends are successful in their careers. Julie is not. Of course, we all know who Julia Child is!! Meryl Streep was a fantastic Julia Child, who started out as a bored housewife in Paris looking to fill her time and ended up being a major influence on American cuisine.

One evening, while bemoaning the lack of meaning in her life, Julie picks up Julia Child's cookbook and decides to cook all 524 recipes in the book in a year, while blogging about her experience. At first, no one is interested, but as time goes by, Julie gets more and more followers of her blog.

I liked the parallel stories of Julia and Julie. They had similar experiences, yet there were drastic differences. Julia's husband Paul (Stanley Tucci) was extremely encouraging of Julia's cooking, while Julie's husband was kind of a jerk!! He was not very supportive of Julie's project. Seriously, if someone was going to be cooking me delicious food for a year, I would be 100% encouraging them along every step of the way!! Julia and Paul had a beautiful residence (with a maid!!), while Julie and Eric lived in a tiny apartment.

I enjoyed seeing the delicious meals both Julia and Julie prepared, especially boeuf bourguignon (YUM!!!). One of my favorite scenes in the movie was when Julia's sister Dorothy (Jane Lynch) comes to Paris to visit her. It was adorable to see two grown women squealing like little girls because they are so excited to see each other. There was quite a bit of passion in this film – passion (romantic and non-romantic) for each other and passion for food.

The movie dragged a bit, with a running time of just over 2 hours – I thought some scenes could have been trimmed down a bit.

Overall an enjoyable dish – go see this movie with your mom, your sister, or your best friend. Whatever you do, DON'T go hungry because you will regret it!! Madison Monroe - iratefilms

The moment that Julie flops on her bed, lamenting "Julia hates me!" is the only moment that made me credit writer/director Ephron with some small degree of insight and artistry, because in that moment Ephron acknowledges that Julie deserves no admiration for her kitchen marathon. Throughout the movie, it's obvious that the supremely accomplished Julia Child would never have respected Julie Powell for turning the former's masterpiece into the latter's superficial stunt.

Streep is superb as Julia Child, playing her as she gloriously was, larger than life and vull of vigor, making believable her passion for food and for cooking. Amy Adams is fine, too, but Julie is a thankless role. The most obvious problem: Only a fool would cook 524 recipes in 365 days, let alone 524 French haute cuisine dishes from a two- volume tome that, incidentally, isn't a simple cookbook. And by the way, Julie the fool would also have to be (1) wealthy enough to afford the rich and meaty ingredients and the well-equipped kitchen that the 524 recipes call for, and (2) willing to eat leftover boeuf Bourguignon or lamb stuffed with kidneys for breakfast or lunch.

But let's just accept that Julie is a determined fool (and a wealthier one than she pretended). What I could not accept in Ephron's formulaic film or in Powell's original project is the fact that Julie never actually learns how to cook, or even seems to want to learn-- yet she miraculously succeeds in nearly every recipe the first time! She cooks by rote, more like an assembly-line worker at an auto plant than a creative chef. Hardly admirable, or believable.

Julie needed to be a woman with the soul of a gourmand. She isn't. She's a blogger with the soul of a clerk.

Saw this movie at a private screening last night. What a lovely movie! Amy Adams is playing Julie -- a part that Meg Ryan used to play when she was young and adorable. Amy so is! Chris Messina as Eric, her husband, is a saint (you'll understand why I say that when you see the movie). Stanley Tucci is wonderful and you'll just love him. But nobody can top La Streep! Every time she appears on screen, the film just glows. She is amazing and you will smile every time you see Julia on screen. The only thing that might upstage Meryl is the food being cooked. I had eaten dinner before I went but was actually salivating several times during the movie. Julia Child made French food accessible and you will want to eat -- a lot afterward. Everyone was laughing a lot -- sometimes on top of lines being said, which made us miss the next few lines. This is NOT a chick flick -- I highly recommend this for people 14 and older (younger kids will probably be bored ---- silly younger kids!). I am just amazed at Meryl Streep! She's a true talent. Oh, I was happy to see Jane Lynch appear briefly. Love her! Go, go, go!