sammi says

Last night I saw the new film, "Julie & Julia" directed by Nora Ephron based on the true story of blogger Julie Powell (Amy Adams) and her channeling of cooking hero, Julia Child (Meryl Streep). I really enjoyed it. I think it's great to see a movie starring women that isn't just for old ladies and isn't a Katherine Heigl-esque, rated-R, romantic comedy disaster. The movie intertwines the two stories seamlessly from 2002 with Powell blogging about her challenge to go through the 524 recipes in Julia Child's cookbook in a year to the 1950's telling Child's story of her start in cooking and creating the book.

Meryl Streep is of course fantastic as Julia Child lighting up the screen and putting a smile on my face in every scene. She portrays her in a such a strong yet charming way that you can really understand Julie Powell's worship of the woman. Amy Adams makes Julie Powell a likable, relatable character despite her hideous hairstyle. Powell's story takes place in 2002 and I was sitting in the theatre racking my brain trying to remember if people in 2002 actually had that hair cut. Upon reviewing the real Julie Powell's current blog (http://juliepowell.blogspot.com) it seems that these days she is anything but frumpy.

I was shocked and delighted to find out mid-movie that Jane Lynch plays Julia's sister Dorothy. If you're wondering who the heck Jane Lynch is, she's appeared in basically every funny movie and television show since the early 2000's, most notably, "Role Models." On another note, be prepared to be a little grossed out hearing the sounds of people eating and chewing. I know this should be expected in a movie all about food but mind you I watch TV while eating dinner to drown out the sound of my own chewing. I got over it, but for the first five minutes or so I was cursing the foley artists that thought that was a good idea.

There is one disappointing aspect to the film which you shouldn't read if you don't want a slight spoiler...

In the last five minutes of the movie we find out that Julia Child doesn't really care for Julie Powell's blog and it's actually portrayed that this perfect woman we grow to love and admire throughout the film hates Julie Powell. Powell gets over it but it left me wondering if Julia Child really hated Julie Powell or if she was just a 90 year old woman who didn't give a crap. I guess I'm not the only one who felt it was a little odd to put it in the movie and actually Julie Powell herself addresses the issue in the most current post on her blog. Either way, it didn't ruin the overall feel-goodness of this film.

So far the movie is kicking butt at the box office and holding its own against "G.I. Joe." I hope that this proves that female driven movies like this one can make money and are worth making!