With the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible (Julie and Julia (DVD))

Member Name: aylawarner

Product:	Julie and Julia (DVD)
Date:	25/09/09 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant cast and acting, sweet, funny film and tasty food

Disadvantages: A little long and not to everyone's tastes (the film not the food)

Based on two true stories, Julie & Julia tells the memoirs of two different women who are separated by time but share a love for food.

In the 1950's, Julia Child moves to Paris with her husband where she begins to take cookery classes in a bid to fill her uneventful days. Surpassing both the expectations and cooking skills of her teacher and the other chefs in her class, Julia decides to write a French cookery book for Americans.

In 2002, call centre worker Julie Powell moves into a tiny apartment over a Pizzeria in New York. While her friends' high-flying careers are brandished in front of her, Julie becomes unhappy with her job and new home. So, with the help and support of her husband, Julie takes on a challenge to cook every one of Julia's recipes in a year while documenting her successes and fails in an online blog.

Although years and miles apart, Julie and Julia's lives are intertwined as they both struggle through similar issues in their lives and both find that cooking is a way to satisfy themselves, with some very tasty results.

~ Cast ~
Julia Child - Meryl Streep
Julie Powell - Amy Adams
Paul Child - Stanley Tucci
Eric Powell - Chris Messina

I wasn't too sure about this film to begin with but from reading all the positive reviews of it on here, I decided to give it a go.

Meryl Streep, I thought, played Julia Child adorably with her tight curly hair, high-pitched voice and a constant smile on her face. I don't know whether the real life Julia Child had the same high-pitched voice but it gave Streep's character a unique, if rather loud, personality. Although the voice was a little strange as she didn't sound either American or French and her voice did sound a little put-on at times. I know my mum said she wouldn't be able to see this film purely because Streep's voice in the trailers irritated her! Streep is also made to look like a giant in comparison to those around, towering over all the women and men, as well as her husband, which gives her character even more of a unique personality. To look at her and listen to her, she would at first seem like a very intimidating person, but Streep turns her into a charming and incredibly sweet woman.

I've only ever seen Amy Adams playing a pretty and girly character, such as her character in Enchanted, so it was quite refreshing to see her playing the role of an ordinary and fairly plain woman, although she did still manage to look very naturally pretty. I felt that I could relate to her character slightly as she was fed up with her job and living situation and needed something, a project, to concentrate on and pass the time. She became swept up in her project and there were some very funny moments when she became too stressed out and crumpled to the floor in tears, which I know I sometimes feel like doing!

I don't think I'd recommend this film to men or to youngsters unless you know that you particularly enjoy films like this. It revolves around two women which did make it quite a girly film and I know for a fact that my husband would have been bored silly if he'd come along to see it. I'm not sure vegetarians would enjoy parts of it too much either, as there are some particularly disgusting scenes including killing lobsters and boning a duck which had me grimacing in my seat. But there were plenty of other tasty food scenes which were very detailed and showed both actresses actually whipping up cream or chopping onions. Not a good film to see if you're hungry but it has made me think that maybe I should cook from scratch a little more!

The humour in it was fairly subtle but very realistic and I did find myself laughing out loud quite a few times. There were a couple of moments when the Child couple came out with a rude word or sentence and it was equally shocking and hilarious from this old fashioned pair.

Although the story was pretty simple and undramatic and only really showed a small part of the lives of the two women, it was generally lovely and charming and it had me smiling practically the entire way through.

Running time: 123 minutes
Certificate rating: 12A
Director: Nora Ephron

Summary: A film to make you smile