Meryl Streep is Julia Child, and Amy Adams is Julie Powell in writer-director Nora Ephron's adaptation of two bestselling memoirs: Powell's Julie & Julia and Child’s My Life In France.A movie about cooking. Well, probably not for my taste (bad bad). On the other hand, anything with the greatest actress of our generation in it, Meryl Streep, can’t be a total waste. So we went. In any case, we were meeting our good friends from the Twin Cities for the movie and dinner. Now, dinner is something that can get my attention anytime.
I did know who Julia Child was, having seen her on TV. Years ago, I used to watch her before "reality and garbage" took over the boob tube. Julie the blogger, I didn’t know at all, being somewhat of a late-comer to that genre myself.
Some of the critics were saying that Julie's story could have been left out. She, the blogger, apparently has some personal characteristics the reviewers didn't like. Streep, of course, wasn’t just doing a great job acting, the Julia part.... she WAS Julia Child. I agreed with that.
The story is simple enough. Two women of different generations turn to cooking and writing as a life fulfillment.
They, according to the film, were both happily married to supportive husbands. Julie idolizes Julia. Although for each, the focus is on a different era, their parallel lives overlap in the sense of the path they have chosen.
There is a scene at the end of the film that is somewhat shocking but I'm not going to reveal it here, so as not to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet.
This movie is a pure joy. I’m still smiling as I write this. There were many laughs and a few tears along the way. Streep as Julia was amazing. Take the time to see this movie. You won’t be disappointed.
