Synopsis:

Trailer
IMDB

If this were directed by someone other than Nora Ephron, and focused exclusively on Julia Child, I'd have a bit more interest.

I was excited about this until I saw the television ad, which makes it look like a Hugh Grant christmas movie. I hope it's better than the early marketing push. Amy Adams sure is cute, though!

Yeah! I can't wait for this movie to come out. I like Nora Ephron... I haven't seen any ads though.

The concept is intriguing, and I like the talent involved, but Nora Ephron is the female Uwe Boll. Her films range from bad to terrible.

I can't think of any that I really didnt enjoy. Good casting, so it ought to be interesting LOL. There was a segment on cooking in Ephrons last book, and I think Child mentioned.

You are brilliant! Because she is most definitely the Uwe Boll of the female directors. Her films are DREADFUL. She should be shot for fucking up "Bewitched". Not only the worst movie that year from a major studio, but one of the worst movies I've ever seen. And turning that into a big screen feature had so much potential. Thanks Nora.

No Dan Aykroyd = No Sale!

Doubt Part Deux?

I can't wait to see this..it should be really good! I actually like a few of Ephron's films so can't wait for this! Plus it's Meryl Streep and about Julia Child so you know it's gotta be good.

Only Ephron film I like is Mixed Nuts.

Clip

As long as Amy Adams doesn't attempt to defend Frosty the Snowman, we should be good.

I LIKE Frosty the Snowman!

Amy Adams looks like she's doing her best Meg Ryan impression.

A Confessions of a Dangerous Mind-type movie about Child's time as a spy seems like a better film idea.

Clip #2

Yep. I turned to my friend next to me when we saw that trailer and said, "Well, I guess Nora Ephron finally found someone more innocent looking than Meg Ryan in the 80's."

FWIW, this looks just as good as the rest of Nora Ephron's films. That is to say, absolutely awful.

I did like When Harry Met Sally, written by NE, but I haven't seen it in quite a few years, so it may not have held up. Looking through the rest of the Nora Ephron filmography, I can say that she does indeed suck.

However, I like Amy Adams, and Meryl Streep looks terrific in this. I'll post again in about six months after this has gotten through my Bloackbuster queue.

Meryl Streep's next Oscar nomination + Amy Adams = I'm there.

The Nora Ephron factor does strike fear and dread into my heart, though.

By the way, it's Julie & Julia.

I think at one point it was Julia & Julia and was just changed recently.

Variety review:

The movie does look interesting and I do like Amy Adams. But I'm leery about it because of Nora Ephron.

"Julie and Julia" is an adaptation of the book written by Julie Powell, who spent a year blogging about cooking all the recipes in Julia Child's well-known cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Nora Ephron directed the film, and she let her 2 stars do what they do, with Meryl Streep channeling Julia Child's ascent to a respectable French cook to an uncanny degree, while Amy Adams gets the less showy job of playing Julie Powell during her year of stuggles with the cooking, and the ups and downs of life.

Through the year of blogging, the film alternates between Julie's life, and showing us Julia's own experiences of trying to learn French cooking, something that was more of a male-dominated occupation at the time, coupled with other obstacles and uncertainty with her life with Paul Child, who went from appointment to appointment with the US State Department, and one of the stops was an assignment in France, where Julia would find her way to French cuisine.

The film is more entertaining during the Julia Child segments, mainly based on the performances of Streep, and Stanley Tucci (playing Paul Child). Streep is a shoe-in for another Oscar nomination for Best Actress, as she imbues plenty of humor and life into the film. The more contemporary segments featuring Julie Powell and her husband Eric are less compelling, but needed to prop up the plotline of Julia's importance to Julie's own life, derived from the self-motivated idea to experience French cuisine based on the writings and experiences of Julia Child, and inadvertently finds her own voice during blogging as her readership grow and grows.

The film is rather uneven in spots, and Ephron doesn't quite keep the pace up throughout its running time, but it's pleasant enough and funny enough to keep its audience's attention spans.

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

I must admit I was thoroughly charmed by this film, but then again most of the summer movies this year have been rather suckey.

Yeah, it wasnt bad, and I got to see alot of my neighborhood... I mean it would probably work better as a biopic of Child as Streep is good in everything, but it didnt suck as much as I thought it would (hows that for a review?) and I was quite entertained by it.