Henry Saw (On a Plane): Julie & Julia

A very brief review of a perfectly decent plane movie...


Julie & Julia was a perfectly solid film to watch on a flight back from Paris. It wasn't too long, required no thinking, and I didn't care if I fell asleep and missed it. As it turns out I stayed awake and was fairly impressed...by half the film.

IMDB's plot description: In 1949, Julia Child (Meryl Streep) is in Paris, the wife of a diplomat, wondering how to spend her days. She tries hat making, bridge, and then cooking lessons at Cordon Bleu. There she discovers her passion. In 2002, Julie Powell (Amy Adams), about to turn 30 and underemployed with an unpublished novel, decides to cook her way through "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in a year and to blog about it. We go back and forth between these stories of two women learning to cook and finding success.

The Amy Adams part of the film is pretty awful. Julie Powell is a dull character, who we never really learn anything about, and her entire storyline lacks drama or stakes of any kind. Will she get through all the recipes in 365 days? Who cares? Amy Adams is always charming but her character is so bland, and is given so little to say or do to enamor herself to the audience, that every time we are in "Julie-World" I was tempted to turn the film off.

I chose not to because of how strong the the Julia Child sections of the film are. Meryl Streep knocks it out of the park. When I saw trailers for the movie I thought it seemed like Streep was just doing a strong impression but there is more to it than that. She is so charming, and real, and makes us invest in Julia Child as a character. Streep has multiple moments where she is asked to do more than just mimic Child's on screen persona and show true happiness, or sorrow, and she just knocks it out of the park. Also great is Stanley Tucci as Julia's husband, he's far better here than in his more showy roll in The Lovely Bones, and has great chemistry with Meryl Streep (also seen in The Devil Wears Prada).

So I fully recommend half of Julie & Julia. I said it was a perfect airplane movie...this might be a pretty damn good film on DVD thanks to the "Next Scene" button. Rent this movie and just skip over every seen set in 2002. Streep is probably the best actor of her generation, a group that includes Deniro, Pacino, Nicholson, etc. and this is just another great performance in a career filled with them. I liked Carey Mulligan in An Education but come Oscar night...I think I'll be rooting for Meryl (Who hasn't won in over 20 years...).

Grade:
Julie: D
Julia: A-
Julie & Julia: B-

Best Scene: Julia finds out great news about her sister...