Day #56 - Julie and Julia

I am VERY excited to finally post a review for Julie and Julia, the inspiration for my blog that was started 56 movies ago :) I LOVED it - it was SO cute and fun :) Meryl was absolutely perfect as Julia Child - what I love about Meryl is how absolutely subtle and natural she is. You know all of her mannerisms, gestures, expressions, etc. aren't all in the script but she adds them in so well, you never feel like she isn't the exact character she is playing. I just admire her as an actor so much and I know she will go down in the history books as one of our greatest.

If only my blog could be as successful as Julie Powell's - I could get dedicated readers and a book deal! Alas though, I think the only people reading my blog are those who I beg to look at it :) (and I appreciate you all!) Julie Powell set out as a writer early in her life and after her half finished novel wasn't picked up by a publisher, she took up a desk job...several years later on the brink of her 30th birthday, she thought, wait a second, everyone else has blogs, why can't I? I have thoughts! I'm a writer! So she blogged about something and someone she really loved - cooking and Julia Child :) The movie follows her through her battle to complete 525 recipes in 365 days, a feat which challenges her and the relationship she has with her husband and friends.

Intertwined with her story is that of Julia Child - first arriving in Paris with her husband, who is an Ambassador, she looks for something to pass her time and finds Le Cordon Bleu, a cooking school. Her love for food and cooking lead her to a collaboration with two other women in writing a book on French cooking for American women, specifically, housewives without servants. Her story is also full of challenges as she struggles to find the exact voice her book needs and a publisher who wants it.

There are a couple of things I LOVED about this movie - the first was the relationship between Julia and her husband Paul, played by the always fantastic Stanley Tucci. Here is a love story between an unlikely couple - he was short and bald, she was tall and a big woman - neither were conventially good looking. But they were head over heels in love with each other and that was really awesome to see. The other thing I really loved was the character of Julia - laid back and cheerful, she seemed phased by very little, rarely getting exasperated or frustrated. If only we all could be more like her! Apparently Julia Child was 6'-2" so they had to employ a lot of forced perspectives and things like raised countertops and really high heels to make Meryl, at 5'-6", look really tall!

I highly recommend this movie to everyone - I know you will all enjoy it!!