Bon Appetit!

Not since CHOCOLAT have I watched a movie with as much food-porn as JULIE AND JULIA. I recommend now, before you even consider a) reading the rest of this or b) seeing the movie, that you grab a snack. I went to the film on a full stomach, and after watching scene after scene of delectable meals, sauces, and desserts, I was incredibly thankful for my early dinner.

Nora Ephron (You've Got Mail) is a master at telling two parallel stories that eventually intersect. The movie opens with both Julie Powell (Amy Adams) and Julia Child (Meryl Streep) moving into a new apartment in a new city. They both struggle with finding their place in their new homes. Julie is a “drone in a cubicle,” working customer service during the aftermath of September 11, 2001, while Julia settles into her role as new housewife to Paul Child (Stanley Tucci), an American Embassy worker in Paris France.

Ephron tells their stories simultaneously as both women try to discover and actualize their passions. Julie stares down the big 3-0 with no accomplishments to her name, while all her friends are upper-level executives. She was the one who was supposed to achieve everything, but she hasn’t even been able to finish her novel. Julia married Paul, and after World War II, they move to Paris. She bounces from hobby to hobby until finally realizing that she should go to culinary school and eventually become the cooking icon we know today. Julie’s journey to discovering herself takes her through a culinary exploration of Julia’s landmark Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She sets a goal to make every recipe in the book in one year and blog about the process. So, while Julia is going to culinary school, teaching, and writing her book from the late 1940s to the 1960s, Julie is making her recipes in modern times.

JULIE AND JULIA is truly enchanting. Streep’s performance as the Amazon Child is breathtaking and so spot on that I started to believe I was actually watching Child in real life. Child is a legend, and only a true legend would have been acceptable to portray her. Once again, Streep proves that no other actress around can touch her. Adams, also an amazingly talented actress, gave Julie Powell’s character a heart. The real Powell comes off a little brash and unsympathetic, however Adams made her tender, relatable, and someone you would want to support and cheer for. You can’t help but want both women to meet in the end, embrace, and remain friends until the end of Julia’s long life. These two actresses have such strong chemistry with each other, even though they never share a moment on screen together. In the end, their stories remain separate; their only intersection occurs as both women share their love of cooking with the masses.