Julia & Julia: Movie Review

"Julie & Julia", the latest film by Nora Ephron ("You've Got Mail", "Sleepless in Seatte") is based on the lives of two women: one, a cultural icon responsible for one of the most significant works of postwar literature, and another, an average modern-day government worker. They're united by a cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" - Julia Child (Meryl Streep) spent nearly a decade assembling it, and Julie Powell (Amy Adams) spent 365 days cooking all of it's 524 recipes.

Telling parallel stories in the early 1950's and 2002 gives the film a gimmick to sustain it's momentum for the first half of the film, however, like many films of this style, audiences will be quick to pick their favorite story. I was much more enthralled with the story of Julia Child and her marriage with the supportive Paul Child (Stanley Tucci). Streep's performance is just delightful, and it successfully captures the enormous charisma of Child (well, from the little i've seen - she was before my time). Tucci, who is really cementing himself as one of our very best character actors, once again has a remarkable chemistry with Streep and is her perfect foil.

Julie Powell, on the other hand, is portrayed as completely self-absorbed and single-minded. Her husband, Eric (the reliable Chris Messina), is equally supportive as Paul, but we can only wonder why. Amy Adams, however, has certainly proven time and time again that she's more than a capable actress. She's perfectly fine here, but her role is simply outmatched and underwritten in comparison to the Julia Child half.

"Julie and Julia" is mostly frothy and inoffensive entertainment, but it seems to be about a half an hour too long. The arrival of the wonderful Jane Lynch as Julia Child's sister doesn't amount to much at all, and relationship troubles between Julie and Eric escalate only because that's what they do in this kind of film. The dramatic momentum comes to a halt before the end of the film, which becomes even more apparent with it's unsatisfying conclusion.

If there's one thing that the film makes clear, it's that Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci should appear as an onscreen couple in every film until the end of time. Streep's performance is a blast, almost near the level of the perpetually happy Poppy from last year's "Happy-Go-Lucky", but unfortunately even her enormous talent can't completely salvage this uneven chick flick.