Julie and Julia
I am in love with Meryl Streep. Always have been, always will be. So when I sat down to watch Julie and Julia, I expected to love it, at least the parts with Meryl Streep. I had tried to read the book the film is based on, but I didn’t make it very far. I’m not sure if it was the writing or the story itself, but I imagine it’s a little bit of both. Anyway. The film was definitely slow starting, and although I think I like Amy Adams, or at least I loved her in Enchanted, she’s not so good in this movie. Maybe the overacting in Enchanted is just the way she acts, because she was definitely overdoing it as Julie Powell. The costuming and makeup department seemed to do their best to make her look homely and unattractive, and although that might be what the author wanted, it made her a lot less likeable.
The film is about a writer named Julie Powell writing a blog about cooking her way through a Julia Child cookbook. There are two stories happening at once: One of Julia Child, playing brilliantly and amazingly by Meryl Streep, and the other of Julia Powell, played by Amy Adams. As expected, the segments with Meryl Streep were genius and adorable. It’s amazing what she can do and the different voices she is capable of. The thing that strikes me the most about Streep is that even though you know it’s Meryl Streep, somehow she becomes the character she is playing. It’s truly amazing.
As the movie progressed, it became slightly more interesting, but I was still eagerly anticipating the sections with Meryl Streep. About a quarter of the way through the film, I decided Meryl Streep was the main character, and she stole the show in more ways than one. Sort of like The Devil Wears Prada and, well, every other film she has ever been in. Largely, Amy Adams as Julie Powell is insane and has frequent meltdowns about cooking and life in general. I mean, I know we all do that all the time, but it’s a little scary to see it on screen. I also want to point out that I was blown away to see Jane Lynch (from Glee and many other fabulous things) act next to Meryl Streep. Stanley Tucci as Julia Child’s wife was fantastic as always, but Meryl Streep is truly a joy to watch on the screen. The problem for me was that I got so caught up in the story about Julia Child that just when I was settling into the story, they switched back to irritating Julie Powell whose husband puts up with way too much. The flaw of the script and the direction is that Julia Child’s storyline had depth and was about her going to cooking school, teaching, writing a book, and dealing with her husband being investigated by HUAC. On the other hand, Julie Powell’s storyline was just about her writing a blog and cooking, and then her husband left her. You can definitely see which plotline is more compelling.
Ultimately, it was a good movie and I enjoyed it. Seeing a Meryl Streep film always makes me want to see more Meryl Streep films, and I love that. I will reserve my judgement about the Best Musical/Comedy category until I’ve seen the others on the list, but so far I imagine Julie and Julia will not be the winner. The other nominees for the category are 500 Days of Summer, The Hangover, It’s Complicated, and Nine. So, like I said, without even seeing the others except The Hangover, which I didn’t really think was all that funny, I can’t imagine Julie and Julia will be the winner. Meryl Streep is nominated for Best Performance by and Actress, Musical/Comedy at the Golden Globes, up against herself in It’s Complicated, Sandra Bullock in The Proposal, Marion Cotillard in Nine, and Julia Roberts in Duplicity. Meryl Streep should win. She is awesome.
The film is about a writer named Julie Powell writing a blog about cooking her way through a Julia Child cookbook. There are two stories happening at once: One of Julia Child, playing brilliantly and amazingly by Meryl Streep, and the other of Julia Powell, played by Amy Adams. As expected, the segments with Meryl Streep were genius and adorable. It’s amazing what she can do and the different voices she is capable of. The thing that strikes me the most about Streep is that even though you know it’s Meryl Streep, somehow she becomes the character she is playing. It’s truly amazing.
As the movie progressed, it became slightly more interesting, but I was still eagerly anticipating the sections with Meryl Streep. About a quarter of the way through the film, I decided Meryl Streep was the main character, and she stole the show in more ways than one. Sort of like The Devil Wears Prada and, well, every other film she has ever been in. Largely, Amy Adams as Julie Powell is insane and has frequent meltdowns about cooking and life in general. I mean, I know we all do that all the time, but it’s a little scary to see it on screen. I also want to point out that I was blown away to see Jane Lynch (from Glee and many other fabulous things) act next to Meryl Streep. Stanley Tucci as Julia Child’s wife was fantastic as always, but Meryl Streep is truly a joy to watch on the screen. The problem for me was that I got so caught up in the story about Julia Child that just when I was settling into the story, they switched back to irritating Julie Powell whose husband puts up with way too much. The flaw of the script and the direction is that Julia Child’s storyline had depth and was about her going to cooking school, teaching, writing a book, and dealing with her husband being investigated by HUAC. On the other hand, Julie Powell’s storyline was just about her writing a blog and cooking, and then her husband left her. You can definitely see which plotline is more compelling.
Ultimately, it was a good movie and I enjoyed it. Seeing a Meryl Streep film always makes me want to see more Meryl Streep films, and I love that. I will reserve my judgement about the Best Musical/Comedy category until I’ve seen the others on the list, but so far I imagine Julie and Julia will not be the winner. The other nominees for the category are 500 Days of Summer, The Hangover, It’s Complicated, and Nine. So, like I said, without even seeing the others except The Hangover, which I didn’t really think was all that funny, I can’t imagine Julie and Julia will be the winner. Meryl Streep is nominated for Best Performance by and Actress, Musical/Comedy at the Golden Globes, up against herself in It’s Complicated, Sandra Bullock in The Proposal, Marion Cotillard in Nine, and Julia Roberts in Duplicity. Meryl Streep should win. She is awesome.
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