Julie and Julia

IMBd Summary: Julia Child’s story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell’s 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child’s first book.

I am a big fan of Meryl Streep, so anytime she stars in a film it automatically goes onto my “must see” list. Lucky for me, The Husband has a bit of a crush on her, so I can usually coerce him into going and seeing even the most girly movies with me as long as she is in them. Julie and Julia was one such movie. Who would have guessed that The Husband ended up liking it just as much as I did, and was even a bit inspired to work on his own blog? Inspiration can come from the darndest places ϑ

The story itself was engaging, inspiring, humorous and witty. Julia Child, played by Meryl Streep, led a very interesting life. I must say that I was a tad jealous of her life in France in that beautiful home with all that yummy food. The Julia Child half of the story was certainly the stronger portion, but I simply believe that is because Julia was a larger than life character, and Meryl Streep did an amazing job or portraying her exuberance for life AND food. Stanley Tucci, who played her husband, was also a great character. Their romance was full of mutual admiration and love, and they both helped each other to reach for their dreams. Julia Child is the woman we all want to be, fearless, strong, smart, funny and a good cook to boot! Watching this movie only helped to magnify how horrific my kitchen abilities really are…

The Julie Powell portion of the story was still inspiring, but just not a gripping as the Julia Child portion. Julie was what many of us late twenty/early thirty-somethings are: confused. Lost. We all have those moments in life where we start to wonder what it is we are actually DOING with our lives. We have dreams that we have pushed aside in order to make ends meet, or to please others, or just because we were lazy. Julie embodies those feelings in all of us. While some people found her whiney and self-centered, I found her honesty about her feelings refreshing. Sometimes we are all a little whiney and self-centered, right? In fact, sometimes we need to be. Amy Adams did a great job portraying the frustrations and desires of Julie and her story of success certainly inspired The Husband, a writer himself, to get moving on creating what he has always wanted to create.

I give this movie 4.5 out of 5 stars.