August 15, 2009 -- Granted, there isn't a lot of substance to this film. It isn't a main course kind of movie. It is more like a fabulous dessert. It is light and fluffy, funny and warmhearted. Even though it is long, you want more. There are heroes, but no real villains, except maybe for red-scare Eugene (“Tail Gunner Joe”) McCarthy and one bitchy Parisian cooking school operator. In this film, we having loving families that are functional for the most part. What a refreshing change of pace that is!

This movie is based on a couple of books, one, “Julie and Julia” written by Julie Powell, a writer and cook, and the other, “My Life in France” which details the life of Julia Child during her formative early years living in France with her husband, Paul, an American diplomat. Julie Powell (played by Amy Adams of “Doubt”) hits upon the idea of cooking all 524 recipes from Julia Child's famous cookbook in 365 days, while writing a blog about her project. As she struggles to complete this project, her husband, Eric (Chris Messina of “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”) feels left out.

The film alternates many scenes between Julie in 2002 and Julia in the 1940s and 1950s, drawing parallels between their lives. Both have good marriages. Julia (played by multiple Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep of “The Devil Wears Prada”) is happily married to diplomat Paul (Stanley Tucci of “The Devil Wears Prada”). She is not content, however to sit around doing nothing in Paris. After trying various activities, she discovers her true passion in life, cooking. There are a number of funny scenes showing her struggles to gain acceptance at the male-dominated Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. There are also funny cooking scenes with Julie, including her struggles killing and cooking lobsters to the strains of “Psycho Killer” by the Talking Heads. The comedy scenes are well-staged by veteran director Nora Ephron (“Sleepless in Seattle”) and by the top-shelf cast. One expects a great performance from Streep and she delivers. Tucci is as good here as I've ever seen him in this low-key role. Amy Adams, one of the best young actresses in the business and Chris Messina are both superb. The food, cooked by a team of chefs, looks fantastic. It is no wonder Julia Child's venerable cookbook saw a big boost in sales because of this film.

Both Julia and her sister, Dorothy (played memorably in the film by Jane Lynch of the “Two and a Half Men” TV show) were very tall, over six feet, which would have made them seem Amazonian in Paris in the 1950s. Since Streep is only five feet, six inches tall (Jane Lynch is six feet tall), the film uses some trickery to make Streep seem taller than she is. Streep convincingly adopts the slouching, twittery-voiced personae of Julia. It is a tremendous performance. Also good are Linda Emond as Julia's cookbook co-author Simone Beck and Frances Sternhagen as “Joy of Cooking” author Irma Rombauer. While Julie comes across as somewhat moody, Julia is delightfully upbeat. She even gets on well with most of the French people she meets. That is a trait that is seldom seen in movies these days and it is certainly a refreshing change of pace. This film rates a B.

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