Julie and Julia [DVD] [2010]

This is, to be fair, not a badly-made film, adapted from a young New York woman's narcissistic and monomaniacal blog about Julia Child; but it needed to lose at least 30 minutes of running time, and the soundtrack is unbearable throughout -- trite, repetitive cheery elevator music for the sections set in the early 2000s, anachronistic and mediocre arrangements of tunes which deserve better for the sections depicting Julia Child's life in Paris in the late 1940s. Meryl Streep is as self-regarding as ever as Child, adopting a hooty, affected voice which makes her sound like an old-fashioned female impersonator, possibly Hinge or Bracket: she achieves her customary thespian miracle of leaving the viewer uncertain as to whether it is her performance or the character she is playing which is the more intolerable. Amy Adams makes Julie Powell marginally more likeable than her blog and her behaviour suggest she really was, but two hours of her is far more than enough. But who burdens a film about French cuisine with not one but two performers who call boeuf bourgignon 'boof borgnyon' ?

I loved this movie. I laughed, I cried. The characters and the story-telling really drew me in. Meryl Streep is brilliant. At first I thought she was ever-so-slightly hamming it up for comic effect but the archive footage in the movie showed that Julia Child was indeed a 'larger than life' character. Stanley Tucci (himself a cookbook author) is perfect as Julia's husband Paul. Their marriage was a true love story and this film has it all, romance, drama, feelgood factor and food! Especially the food. And a happy ending!

Absolutely dire and tedious - Julie a young American decides to cook all the recipes of a 50s cook (Julia - Meryl Streep) and do a blog about it. We intercut with Julia's life in 50's France as she learns to cook. Interest none. Drama - none. Suspense - none. Witty dialogue - none. Meryl Streep acting - none. After about 30 minutes we could bear it no longer and fast forwarded the rest. Dire in a very dire way, because it was not like a arthouse film which can be dire, but you can vaguely forgive them for trying to be arty. This was middle brow boredom.

I discovered this film by chance having never heard of Julia Child or her work and in the belief that Elizabeth David had worked largely alone to bring French food to English speaking countries in the 50s and 60s. Both David and Child have clearly been extremely influential, Child perhaps is better known in the United States than in England (or perhaps I just missed the reviews).The film is based on the story of a young woman employed at a call centre who dreams of becoming a writer. As the sleeve notes state she decides that she will cook the entire Child repertoire and report her experiences on her blog. As time passes and new dishes come and go Julie becomes increasingly obsessed by Julia Child and her relationship suffers.In parallel the film flips back to Paris in the 50s where Julia Child is the wife of an Embassy worker, large and dominating in appearance, she enrols at the Cordon Bleu cookery school really for want of something to do. When Child decides to do something she puts all of her enormous energy into her project. In time she meets two French women who have been attempting to collate a recipe book and the film follows the highs and lows of this relationship, rejection of the book and then the search for a publisher which is eventually successful.I don't think I've given away anything here that isn't in the publicity material for the film and I won't spoil the fun of others by describing the plot further.This is not a film that gallops at great pace but it is well acted and evocative of both current life and of life for a certain kind of woman/wife in the 1950s.If you are interested in French cuisine, in Paris and the methods of the Cordon Bleu school, in blogging or in how dreams can turn to obsessions then the modest price of this film would make a good investment.

I absolutely love this movie. I cut my satellite tv off so I didn’t have access to this movie anymore. For a couple of quid, get the dvd. It’s a lovely movie and will give you some really good food ideas!! Mushrooms and tomato fried off in cream cheese and spread on toast is the business! Not exactly how they do it but inspiration is there!!!

I stumbled over this movie by chance and what an enriching find. It's a positive and encouraging story ... actually two biographies no less. This movie is all about food and they translate this subject visually so well, you can almost taste, smell the food they are talking about / cooking in the movie. Furthermore, this is a great biography movie how two normal people, like you and me, discover their calling in life or just simply their passion / a purpose. I love Julia Child's story that even in the less likely stage and circumstances in life, you can find your calling. Its never too late and you should definitely never give up. Opportunities are not tied to young age but your will of successeding. Meryl Street as usual excels in her performance, as does Stanley Tucci and the husband of 'Julie'. Amy Adams, in my view, could have played with more gusto and less whiny.My very manly partner had been resisting this movie for a while, one day he was bored .... well and the rest is history, he loves the movie. In fact he joined me at my cooking classes and now enjoys cooking himself! In my view this is a big impact after watching one movie.I can highly recommend Julie and Julia.