HOLLYWOOD POV: "Julie & Julia"

 

Based on two true stories, one fascinating and one painfully boring, JULIE & JULIA intertwines a teensy portion of the lives of two women who, though separated by time, place, space, skill, and interests are both at loose ends until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness, supportive husbands, and way too much butter, anything is possible.

 

 

 

Clocking in at 123 minutes - almost 40 minutes too long for my battered taste buds - JULIE & JULIA was a big giant snooze fest whenever Meryl Streep was not on screen. And when she was on screen her Julia Child seemed more of a riff on SNL’s Danny Ackroyd’s impression of Child (which Director Nora Ephron generously gives us a clip of in this film to compare) than of the real Julia Child herself. Of course the only time I’ve seen the real Julia Child on TV was if I happened to catch an old rerun of her cooking show on a PBS channel. But that was enough to understand that Streep’s Child is a tranny/Ackroyd version of the real thing.

 

 

After watching way too many epi’s of food-centric shows on TV like TOP CHEF, TOP CHEF MASTERS, HELL’S KITCHEN, IRON CHEF, CHOPPING BLOCK, and KITCHEN NIGHTMARE’S - to name just a few - I now know that I made the right career choice, to not be a chef. Being a chef is a nasty and painful degrading experience. Standing on your feet for countless hours bent over at the waist while sweaty tears fall into tons of chopped onions in a steamy crowded kitchen is not my idea of a dream job. How anyone could aspire to a career of such torture is beyond my understanding, but I can still enjoy a great restaurant, a great plate of food, and endless “reality” TV shows on the topic. Maybe I'm a kitchen voyeur.

 

 

 

Due to Meryl Streep’s normal height of 5'6" several camera, set, and costume tricks had to be employed to mimic Julia Child's epic height of 6'2". Countertops were lowered, Streep wore extra high heels and stood on stools, and forced perspective camera angles were used. At times it even appeared that she might be standing on a stool, especially when smooching with the excellent Stanley Tucci who played her husband Paul Child, a US Foreign Service attache. They married in 1946 and moved to Paris 2 years later when he was assigned as an exhibits officer with the US Information Agency. Julia flailed around looking for something to interest her and after unsuccessfully investigating millinery she found her true love in a French kitchen.

 

 

Meanwhile, in modern day New York City, temp admin assist cubicle worker Julie Powell lives in a small Long Island City, Queens, studio apartment with her husband and a stove. After realizing she loathes not living her dream of being a writer, Julie decides that what she really needs is a higher web profile so she embarks on writing a blog she thinks might get some attention.

 

Julie sinks her blog hooks into Child’s wildly successful cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Powell sets out to cook all 524 recipes in the book in 1 year, meaning she must complete 1.435 recipes each day... while continuing to work at her 9-5 office temp drudge job. How many of you really think she did this in her one-room studio walk-up apartment? Perhaps you would also be interested in purchasing a bridge in Brooklyn? I can make you a great deal.

 

Powell's blog-to-book idea was a winner for her. Her blog became a hit and she got a book deal. Mission accomplished. I wonder who she will rip off next for her next book. Ahh, I know, it’s the husband who supported her through her year of living Child. She cheats on him after her first book is published and, of course, rubs his face in it and writes another book, this one called Cleaving: a Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession in which she apprentices as a butcher with afternoon trysts with her lover. Her obsession being, obviously, about her raising her own successes on the backs of others. What a grand path to her future.

 

Well-known food-aholic, excellent cook, writer, and director Nora Ephron followed the Powell blog and began writing a script adapted from the 2 stories, Child’s My Life in France, which covered her time spent in Paris during the 1940-1950’s (and which ended when Paul Child was brought before Joe McCarthy’s communist witch-hunt, in which he accused people of Communist infiltration into the US State Department) and Powell’s Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen.  One year later the book was retitled Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously to gain more sales.

 

The best parts of JULIE & JULIA are when Meryl Streep occupies Julia Child and channels Danny Ackroyd’s imitation of her. Child’s famous kitchen was completely copied for the film and Streep is joyous to watch as she chews the scenery and conquers Paris. Also keep an eye out for the always interesting Jane Lynch who plays Child’s beloved sister, Dorothy McWIliams.

 

In comparison, Amy Adams as Julie is boring and joyless and shows none of the promise she radiated in her previous films ENCHANTED, JUNEBUG, and even as a pious nun in DOUBT, in which she also starred with Streep. In fact, whenever Adams was on screen the film seemed to lurch to a screeching halt and people walked up the aisle in droves heading for the bathroom until her scenes were over. A neat 40 minutes could have easily been shaved from this film without losing one minute of Child/Streep’s delicious presence.

 

If you’re a foodie or a fan of Julia Child’s, you’ll want to see this film, but for the rest of us JULIE & JULIA is a challenging overly-long film that might work best for you at home where you can head to the kitchen for a snack whenever Meryl Streep is not on screen. All in all, JULIE & JULIA is just a fluffy souffle that doesn’t fill one up.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ © 2009 by Digital Dogs~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Digital Dogs rating: B

MPAA rating: PG-13 for brief strong language and some sensuality.

Running Times: 123 Minutes

Producers Dana Stevens, Scott Rudin, Eric Steel, Director Nora Ephron, Screenplay Nora Ephron, from the books by Julie Powell, Julia Child, and Paul Prudhomme, DP Stephen Goldblatt, Editor Richard Marks, Music Alexandre Desplat, Actors Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina, Jane Lynch, Mary Lynn Rajskub

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		Digital Dogs, Gather Movies Correspondent - Los Angeles
	Digital Dogs' column, HOLLYWOOD POV, published every Thursday to Gather Essentials: Movies is an insider's look at the art, people, and product of Hollywood. Digital Dogs is an opinionated writer, editor, and digital designer who lives and works in the Entertainment Capital of the world. DigiDogs' unique reviews are usually written well before a film's release date, and definitely worth the advance look at the films that influence the world. Keep up with Digital Dogs' movie review series by joining her network, or subscribing to her content.