Rating of
3.5/4
Can 'You' De-Bone a Duck?
Matthew Sanchelli - wrote on 12/13/09
So, I watched 'Julie & Julia' this morning. Well, I tried to watch it, but was unexpectedly stopped about an hour into the movie when it started skipping. I removed the DVD to investigate and noticed a massive chip on the outer edge of the disc. This brought my screening to an immediate halt; which sucked because I was actually enjoying the movie.
After running a few errands then this morning (otherwise known to me as a very unsuccessful journey Christmas shopping); I made it to Blockbuster to exchange the damaged disc for a good one. I returned to my apartment to finish the remaining hour.
I will honestly admit that I more than enjoyed the movie but am under serious consideration of adding it to my DVD collection.
First, the way the movie was cut together is great. It's chopped, jumping between an 'origin' story of Julia Child and the modern story of Julie Powell. It adds a hint of non-linear story-telling to the story; which obviously adds a lot to it and give some creative options such as show particular parallels between the two woman's lives.
The 'Julia' (Meryl Streep) side of the story appealed to me because it's about a woman in a 'strange, new' country (France of all places....*shudder*) with relatively nothing to do, so she decides to take some culinary classes. She is snubbed by the locals because she is an American but pushes on and doesn't forget the type of person she is and continues in a almost 'against the odds' story to success.
This parallels the 'Julie' (Amy Adams) side of the story. A couple move to a new apartment in New York and our heroine is stuck in an non-fulfilling job and needs something to 'live' for. She gets the idea to blog about cooking 524 recipes in Julia Child's cookbook in 365 days. I felt like her story involved more of an internal antagonist where Julie had to battle her own life-demons.
Usually, I'm not a big fan on Meryl Streep; which don't get me wrong, she is a very talented actor...I just don't typically like her movies. Given, I don't know too much about Julia Child but I'm sure she was probably the best fit for the part (I think the performance was incredibly done).
Amy Adams added a majority of the enjoyment of this movie for me. There was a lot to like about her 'Julie'. She was a fun, perky, driven, quirky woman and a lot of fun to watch. I've seen a few of Amy's movies in the last couple of months (Sunshine Cleaning, Night At The Museum 2); and add in her role in Enchanted (Yes....I saw Enchanted)...and I think it's fair to say she is not only becoming one of my favorite female actors but there is a hint of a celebrity crush developing. That bias aside, I do think she has loads of talent since it seems she has a wide-range in terms of character development and all of her roles have not had any type of 'overlap'...each part is different from the other parts she's had.
There is another aspect of this movie that was probably the main draw pulling me in to rent it. It has a theme of cooking. If you know anything about me, I love (LOVE) cooking. Of anything, this movie did speak to me in the sense that for the last couple of months I've been seriously considering going back to school to add some more education to my Bachelors. If I actually put some 'walk' to my 'talk'; then I will hopefully be enrolled in a Baking and Pastry Entrepreneurship Certification program at a local community college come Fall 2010.
My overall review. If you like good storytelling. A mix of emotions that keep you heavily involved. And even some great laugh-out-loud moments then I highly recommend renting this flick.
