Movie Review: Julie & Julia

I read Julie Powell's Julie & Julia and enjoyed it, but it'd be safe to say I didn't savor it.
However, when I heard they were doing a movie version with Meryl Streep playing Julia Child, then my mouth began to water. Streep throws herself into every role with gusto, and for her to play a character like Child, well, that's one heck of a recipe.
Nora Ephron blended Powell's book and Child's My Life in France (written with Alex Prud'homme). And what a great fusion! Amy Adams plays the frustrated Powell, none too pleased to see 30 on the horizon and working a government job, sealed in a cubicle and taking sad, angry and frustrating calls about how the 9/11 site will be rebuilt. After hours hearing all range of emotions and wanting something more - in the movie she has written a novel that's been rejected - she gravitates toward cooking more and more. In a flash of inspiration she decides to cook all of Julia Child's recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol 1: all 524 in one year and blog about it. It's a goal, a quest to complete something. She wants this challenge more than anything and it gives her drive.
Adams is fine as Powell, though a bit bland. All the zest from the movie comes from Streep's Child and her movie-husband Paul, played by Stanley Tucci. They have a warm, loving, laughter-filled marriage. We see the Childs arrive in France and Streep ooh-ing and ah-ing over that first French dish - Sole Meunière. Oh, the butter, she raves! It makes anything better!
We see her character trying to find direction: learning French, learning to make hats, lighting up the neighborhood all along. She says she loves to eat, and decides she wants to learn to cook French cuisine. So she enrolls in Cordon Bleu and begins learning what will become her destiny. It's a hoot to watch her learn to cook. Slow at chopping onions in class, and at home chopping piles of them to finetune her still. When Paul arrives at home to be greeted by a mountain of chopped onions, with his wife studiously adding to the pile, knife flying, the look on his face is priceless. But he supports her. The marriage we see on screen is loving, fantastic. They truly love each other and complete and support each other. It's sweet to see.
Adams and her movie husband aren't as interesting. There's love there, but it's weak in comparison to that of the Childs. But it's fun to watch her bloom as she learns to cook - and anyone who loves to cook will love watching Adams and Streep cooking up a storm - and begins getting attention for her blog, from writers, from publishers. In mastering Child's recipes, she finds the ingredients for fulfillment. That's one tasty morsel.
But it's still Streep's show all the way. She infuses Child with such joy and mirth and ambition you can't help but want a second portion. Hell, I can't help but want a whole movie of her and Tucci. I'm hungry for it!