Movie Review: "Julie and Julia"

I watched this some time ago. I didn't really think I would enjoy it; the reviews were on the positive side, but the story did not appear to be particularly exciting ("Almost 30 year-old woman finds a new meaning in her life, cooking Julia Child's French Cuisine recipes and blogging about it"?? That's pretty much the synopsis, if you ask me.)

I did however forget about the monster that is Meryl Streep. No matter what you think of the movie (and trust me the movie is not bad. At all.) you can't ignore her. In all her scenes she dominates. She is funny and sensitive at the same time. Playing a real person -Julia Child in this case- must be hard, but this woman seems to pull it off so easily, you almost think you could do it as well. Anyway, you will definitely enjoy Meryl Streep's performance, and I have to admit that you will probably like Amy Adams' character, no matter what you think of Amy Adams. I grew to like her a lot more because of this movie, so that's a good thing, right?

 
Julia Child talking to a fish. Best way to make sure it's fresh.

Now, what the movie really is about: Food! French Cooking in all its glory! Recipes and cheese and fish and butter and cakes and... Well, to be honest, this is NOT what the movie is about, but as a person that loves good food and particularly French Cuisine I enjoyed all the parts of it that involved cooking. How can I say it, they were so light, colorful, delightful on the whole! I could almost smell the butter melting, the cake in the oven! And I was not hungry when I was watching it, mind you :)

 
(Ok, maybe I was a little bit hungry :))

The other reason I loved it so much -well, we can safely say now that I loved it. I just realised it myself :)- was Paris. Since Julia Child spends the biggest part of the movie in Paris, there were inevitably a lot of scenes with a Parisian background. Real or fake, I couldn't tell. I can tell you for sure that in reality it looks just as perfect as in the movie-I might be a little biased, but it's mostly true.

Images like this make me love this movie even more.  Julia Child buying groceries in Paris...

 
Mmm, and then visiting a patisserie...

So, if you want to enjoy approximately 2 hours of cooking French recipes, a light mood and a Parisian scenery, go ahead. Meryl Streep will make you watch it totally guilt free.