moviereview colin fraser film movie australia review critic flicks
Eternally resistant to the wiles of Nora Ephron as I am (Sleepless in Seattle, the agonisingly twee You've Got Mail or the repellent Bewitched!), it came as a shock to find myself actually enjoying this girls-own cook show. Yet with two splendid actors in the lead roles, another two in support plus the eternal delight of Paris, perhaps it was inevitable that one would be swept along on a frothy tide of chick-flick delight. And it is just as certain that should Streep, Adams or Paris be not to your liking, neither Julie nor Julia will work their charms.
Re-teamed after their formidable outing in Doubt, it is interesting that Streep and Adams do not share screen time. It's also wise. The only opportunity arrives late in the piece and would have sunk their efforts without trace. Instead Ephron stays focussed on two journeys based on two memoirs – the time spent in France by indefatigable American Julia Childs, and the year Julie Powell decided to cook her way through Child's celebrated guide to French cooking.
They create a neat balance as a garrulous Streep – all strained vowels and long legs – fills the screen while Adams falls to pieces blogging the experience of cooking 512 recipes in 365 days. Their performances are central to the film which would otherwise float away, so light is the conceit: Childs learns to cook, Powell leans to cook like Childs.
For the most part, Ephron stays upwind of cliché as her cast touch on a few emotional issues – Childs' anguish about motherhood, Powell's professional torment and the like. It keeps the story close to earth while the many comic elements set it free. Somewhere in between, especially for those who grew up with Childs' unconventional TV show - a lot of fun can be found.
// COLIN FRASER julie & julia julie & julia
moviereview colin fraser film movie australia review critic flicks