Movie Review: Julie&Julia

Julie & Julia stars Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as Julie Powell. This movie was based on two true stories - Julia Child's life and Julie Powell's experience on trying 500++ recipes from Julia Child's cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". The movie jumps from the 1940s to the year 2000s, alternating from Julia's story to Julie's point of view. Julie & Julia is all about food and cooking, and the various relationships that they established and nurtured over the years. 

For the most part, this movie is all about food -- a subject I hold dear to my heart -- and cooking (which is necessary to love food. ^_^). There are also some side stories intertwined throughout the movie such as Julia's sister starting a family, her marriage to Paul Child, the support that her husband gave her, and Julie's life with her friends, family, her supporting husband, meltdowns and her blog audience. I somehow can relate to Julie's position, where she blogs her year-long experience with trying out Julia Child's recipes, since, hey, I'm doing this -- blogging about my thoughts on different views, right? And I know that it's so frustrating not to know if you really reach out to some people out there. Anyway, like what Julie does, it's sort of a reprieve from the monotony of daily life -- some sort of a break from the 9-5 job that we all have.  

Although it may be based on two true stories, I didn't find the movie that thought-provoking, or profound in any way, because, well, it deals with blogging experiences with cooking. I mean, anybody can do that. It really didn't have to be made into a movie. BUT, all aspects considered, it is a welcome break from all those movies that are so serious or so comedic or so dramatic or violent that you can't really appreciate the simpler things in life. 

With regards to the technicalities of the movie, there were some parts that lacked enough light, but I guess the director has her reasons for that. The flow and transition of the two time periods was smooth, and it wasn't confusing to which era you're watching at the moment. I think that they captured the essence of the each time through the location, the costumes, even the background music. 

All in all, I think that this movie can stand out on its own, although it's never a bad thing if it can still be improved, right?

The verdict: Four stars