ironhorse_iv Review of Julie & Julia

Julie & Julia (2009)

Something is stirring in the movie kitchen. A awful receipt of a bio film.

[6/10 · 11 August 2013]

Julie & Julia should be call Julia & Julia, because I just couldn't stand for the other character in the film, Julie Powell (Amy Adams). I think if the movie was just about Julie Child's (Meryl Streep) life, it would have been better. The movie felt like a stalker- wet dream. Julie & Julia is a comedy-drama film written and directed by Nora Ephron. The film contrasts the life of Chef Julia Child during her early years of her culinary career trying to finish her book 1961's 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' with the life of young New Yorker Julie Powell, who aspires to cook all 524 recipes in Child's cookbook in 365 days and read it in a blog. While, all the scenes with Meryl Streep are enjoyable; the scenes with Julie Powell are just contempt to ruin the film. Don't get me wrong, I love Amy Adams, but this role is probably one of the worst roles she ever took. I just found her character to be so self-absorbed narcissistic. She looks like a little boy whining and complaining. Having major break downs over cooking no less. She is a young writer with an unpleasant job at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's call center, where she answers telephone calls from victims of the September 11 attacks and her friends happen to be unlikable rich business women. Rather than quitting and getting new friends, making her life better, she decide to ride on Julia Child's coattails to riches and fame. She invest so much of her life to working on knowing Julia Child's cookbook that she started to seem like a stalker. She started dressing like her, and acting like she know her in a personal level. She even talks about dreaming of Julie Child's talking to her in her sleep. Now, they is a small line between being a fan, and being obsessed by the woman. She clearly obsessed by her. While alive, Julia Child obviously recognized this. Julia Child had to struggle and worked many years to undertake what she did, and a year after she dies; this opportunist publishes a book about herself linking herself to Julia Child. Even the title stinks of self-importance: Julie and Julia not Julia and Julie. Just who is the famous person here who worked many, many years?! Certainly not the insecure Julie. That takes extreme nerve since Mrs. Powell has admitted not completed anything in her life. She was a bloodsucker leech of a woman. Ephron's screenplay is adapted from two books: My Life in France, Child's autobiography written with Alex Prud'homme, and a memoir by Powell call the Julie/Julia Project. The film is the first major motion picture based on a blog. I read the blog for research, and found it shallow and stupid. No wonder Julia Childs disliked the author so much. The two ideas of telling Julie's life story with a blog of cooking her receipts don't really mash well. The storyline is somewhat boring, incongruent, and haphazard. Yes, the two stories are kinda relate in a way; but it's really hard to watch the movie when it jumps from one time period in Paris to the other time period in Queens, NY. When scenes with Julia Child get interesting, it cut to Julie Powell's story, so you have to wait until Powell's is done with her scenes before going back to Child. It's so badly cut up movie that you lost interest right away. Why can't this be two movies? I love Julie Child plot line because it highlights similarities in the women's challenges at the time. What is Julie Powell's problems? She has to cook all the recipes and blog. Sorry, but Julie Child's story is more interesting and has depth. Streep is over-the-top here cartoony caricature of Child's, but it was close to it. I do like Stanley Tucci as the Child's supporting husband. Their love story really did seem very cute. This movie is not Nora Ephron's best work. The continual narrative by Amy Adam describing everything we were watching was beyond annoying. It was like watching a cooking commercial. Talking about television, the movie even have the nerves to be lazy, as they just reused an old The Saturday Night Live skit to add minutes to the film by playing the whole 5 minute skit out. At 123 minutes there are 30 minutes that could have been cut out. What was with all the hate for the Republicans? We already know that Hollywood mostly dislike conservatives but is it really smart to alienate half of your paying audience by insulting them continually throughout the film. It just comes off as childish and immature, like bullies at a playground. What type of boss would say a Republican would fire you? I can honest understand voicing your opinion against McCarthyism because I, too thought it was wrong for Senator McCarthy to black list people, but why is this topic in this type of a movie? We came to see food, not politics. I did a little research and though Paul Child was sent back to Washington for an investigation, I found nothing that stated he was the subject of the investigation. In fact, he came back to Washington and was promoted. McCarthy was mentioned several times and there were a couple of republican jabs just because the director felt like it. It wasn't needed! It took us away from the main plot about the cooking. Overall: Had this been a movie simply about Julia Child, it could have been great. Instead, more than half of the movie is given to a crazy fan. I know there really are people like this, but I don't need to pay money to watch movies of fans falling head over heels over celebs. Stop thinking of making yourself into the next Julia Child, and start making yourself the next you. I say.