Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia

Movie Review: Julie & Julia

And you thought you knew Julia Child, the ageless cookbook author who giggled over French recipes on television for decades. In Julie & Julia, shes an American in Paris, defying the phallocratic French cuisine hierarchy to discover the pleasures of cooking, deploring the influence of Senator Joseph McCarthy back home, and leaping into bed with her US diplomat husband (Stanley Tucci). Who would have thought that Julia Child had a sex life? It must have been all those oysters. (Lets call this safe sex, for the rating purposes of this PG-13 comedy. Theres nothing like Marlon Brandos “get the butter” moment in X-rated The Last Tango in Paris.)

Streep proves once again that shes a remarkable assimilator of accents and mannerisms. Shes also a great physical comic. So is Tucci, who never gives bad performances.
If only Julie & Julia  – written, produced and directed by Nora Ephron – had simply been a period comedy with vivid nostalgic details in its production design about Julia Child, food and France in the McCarthy Era, we would have had a charming picture and a few cooking tips.

Meryl Streep stars as Julia Child in "Julie & Julia."

Meryl Streep stars as Julia Child in "Julie & Julia."

But no. This overlong films other half is the drama of Julie Campbell (Amy Adams), a phone assistant fielding post 9/11 complaints who finds fulfillment in her Queens apartment, with her husband, by setting a goal for herself – to cook 500 recipes by Julia Child in one year.  Soon she learns that butter can make all sorts of things taste better. Eureka. She writes a blog about it and becomes an internet celebrity. Its a true story, told in her book Julie & Julia.  As the pot boils on the stove and every cliché about young married life gets warmed over, the couples bond comes under stress. Will their soufflé come crashing down? I wont give away how its resolved because you probably guessed already. Its a summer comedy.

Amy Adams in Julie & Julia

Amy Adams in Julie & Julia

Not that Julies story couldnt have been compelling, especially in its camera-ready screwball situation of a frustrated young writer with self-involved Sex in the City friends who spends all day as a bureaucratic Miss Lonely Hearts. In the film, though, it devolves, after Julie makes her decision to tackle the 500 recipe Child-athon, into a relationship swamp, in which husband Eric (Chris Messina) alternates between praising her cooking and griping about scant attention from her, always with his mouth full. As the film drags on, youre praying that he comes down with food poisoning, and reaching for a Rolaids for yourself.

Amy Adams as "Julie" in Julie & Julia

Amy Adams as "Julie" in Julie & Julia

One factual matter. Queens, maligned as a backwater borough (culinary and otherwise) in Ephrons script,  is in fact a restaurant heaven, with every cuisine of the world represented, often at prices so low that you cant afford to eat at home. (Write a comment at the end of this post and Ill offer some tips.) I forgot that facts and romantic comedies are two different things.  Also, neither of them ever gains weight, despite the huge butter content. Again, it only happens in the movies. Should this film have a “dont try this at home” advisory?

Its hard to recommend half of a movie, but the Streep-Tucci sections of Julie & Julia are truly charming. They are pros in the best sense of the word, but they cant save this treacly picture. For the Julie story, its probably better to start with her book, and then go back to the kitchen with the French cooking ur-text from Godmother Child. Bring plenty of butter.