(Next time, Julie, pick a thinner cookbook)
CAST: Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina, Jane Lynch, Mary Lynn Raskjub.
DIRECTOR: Nora Ephron
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and crazy culinary undertakings - not to mention crazy blogging undertakings - straight ahead…
Before we get started with our next review, I’d like to take this opportunity to answer some questions I’ve recently received via email or through the grapevine. I try to answer all emails individually, but these eight I’ll answer here on the blog. Best to take care of these in one fell swoop, given I’m a busy cat.
8.
Q: I recommended GHOST a few months ago, and I haven’t seen it on the schedule yet. I was sure you were saving it for Valentine’s Day - but it wasn’t on the list. What gives?
A: Nothing gives. Except for the fact that I have never been drunk enough to actually be able to sit through that movie in its entirety. One of these days, though…
7.
Q: Will you please review CON AIR and THE ROCK?
A: I adore you for following my blog and taking the time to send in a suggestion - but to answer your question: fuck, no.
6.
Q: Who is hotter? Angelina Jolie or Halle Berry?
A: Please. Halle Berry.
5.
Q: How the hell can you justify giving GRANDMA’S BOY a rating of ***½?
A: Because this is my blog and I can do whatever the hell I want. You don’t like GRANDMA’S BOY? That’s fine. It’s a free country. You don’t tell me how to rate my movies and I won’t tell you that the prevailing theory is guys who don’t like GRANDMA’S BOY probably have tiny dicks and are lousy lays. Ooopsie.
4.
Q: You are on a yacht with Russell Crowe, Jason Statham, Chris Evans, and James Franco. Suddenly, it starts sinking. But there’s only room for one other person in the life raft. Who do you rescue?
A: Oh, you’re a bastard…
3.
Q: You use celebrity/superhero names as code to refer to a lot of people in your circle who resemble them: Brad Pitt, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Linda Evangelista, Milla Jovovich, Liam Neeson, Ioan Gruffaud, Clark Kent, Paul Rudd, Lee Remick, Richard Gere, Harrison Ford, Rachel Ward, etc. Are your friends, family, and acquaintances all really that gorgeous?
A: Yes. And I hate them all for it. I feel like Spongebob Squarepants around them.
2.
Q: You refer to your cat Casper in a few of the reviews. You make him sound like a furry white demon. I bet he’s really an angel.
A: You go on thinking that, sweetheart. Just be glad it’s not your leg he sharpens his claws on.
1.
Q: There’s a rumor going around that you got the idea for your blog from watching JULIE AND JULIA. Is this true?
A: My agent has told me not to respond to that without consulting him first.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked whether JULIE AND JULIA inspired me to create my blog. The truth is the germ of the idea for this blog came to me when an old friend asked why I didn’t have a blog yet, considering I was the funniest person he knew. I should probably point out that my friend has a very limited social circle, and therefore it was easy to nab that title.
Anyhow, I figured the best thing to write about would be movies. I also thought that giving myself a tight timeline would help discipline me to write nearly everyday - hence the 365 reviews in 365 days theme. But enough about this blog. Let’s talk about a much more interesting one - the one in JULIE AND JULIA.
JULIA AND JULIA is based on Julie Powell’s book of the same title, which, in turn, was based on her 2002 blog. Entitled “The Julie/Julia Project,” the blog chronicled Powell’s efforts to cook her way through culinary goddess Julia Childs’ classic THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING. I have not read Powell’s book, so I’m not sure if it follows the same style as the movie - which is to weave Childs’ story as she first discovers her passion for cooking (by way of her passion for eating) in 1950‘s Paris, with Powell’s saga in 2002 of finding a creative outlet for her frustrated energies.
The result for both women? For Childs, she poured herself into writing the ground-breaking cookbook mentioned above - and won international acclaim for it. For Powell, she channeled her focus on the blog, which ultimately attracted the attention of the literary world and landed her a book deal. The book, like THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING many years before it, became a bestseller. And now, it’s a movie.
JULIE AND JULIA succeeds for two main reasons: (1) the grace with which director Nora Ephron intertwines Childs and Powell’s stories, showing not only their professional challenges, but their personal ones, as well; and (2) the terrific performances of everyone concerned - especially Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in the lead roles.
Streep nails Childs' mannerisms, but does not take the easy route by giving us a stylized, mannered performance. Instead, she becomes Childs in all her quirks and dimensions. We forget that we’re watching probably the greatest actress ever, hard at work. Streep slips into the role so smoothly that she makes it seem so natural and easy. Amy Adams, while not quite matching Streep (who could?), still holds her own quite well as Childs’ modern-day kindred spirit, Julie Powell. While the Powell sequences are ultimately not as compelling as the Childs sequences, the overall story remains cohesive and entertaining.
Chris Messina and Stanley Tucci are warm and likable as the supportive men in our heroines’ lives. Tucci and Streep, in particular, have a great rapport - and they make their characters easily the most loving and positive married screen couple to come along in awhile. It’s nice to see a husband and wife in the movies who have kept the fires burning against the odds. The fact that this couple really existed makes it even more special.
In the end, JULIE AND JULIA is a story that captures the timeless need for the creative spirit to find an avenue to escape through. And the power of the written word to reach across time to shape, inspire, and influence people. Even in a cookbook…
