Honest movie reviews: Julie & Julia

Starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child, one would think this would be a phenomenal movie about the woman many of us grew up with as our guide to fine cuisine. The hype behind "Julie and Julia" I found to be very deceiving, and on some very disturbing levels. This movie did have all the elements present to be a great movie, yet didn't dish it up. Good cast, good marketing, the overall love the American people have for Julia Child, but it all fell flat.

The movie is basically about a gal, who feeling so insignificant in life and dejected as an author, embarks on a mission to complete over 500 recipes from Julia Child's cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" within 365 days. In the meantime, the movie flips back and forth between this gal and a biography of Julia Child's life in France.

This film, "Julie and Julia" left me with a very bitter aftertaste of someone trying desperately to ride the coattails of someone greater and duped us all into believing it'd be a cute story. It just wasn't.

I tried desperately to find the links between the two, despite the McCarthy moments with Julia's husband and that Julie Powell was working for a government agency dealing with the aftermath of 9/11.Or that Julie was a rejected author, and Julia was too, at first. To show the passion for fine cuisine between the two was easily established.

Nora Ephram as director of this film turned Julia Child into a walking Santa, with the constant "ho, ho's" and overly jolly demeanor. Considering what Meryl Streep was given with to portray, she should have just either rejected the film or put the darned santa suit on. In the meantime, it was a struggle to keep actress Amy Adams cute without becoming overly nauseous. I wanted to run for the phone to call for a straight jacket for the gal she portrayed, who was so obsessed with Julia Child, she admitted she talked to her as if she were "an imaginary friend".

A lengthy scene was devoted to a spoof seen on television with Julie Powell and her husband as they lay in bed watching television. In this scene, they were laughing at a spoof seen on television that was quite graphic about pretending to be Julia Child and cutting herself. the blood spewed forth and gushed. The actors found it even more funny as the Julia Child spoof actor found absurd recourse after another to stop the bleeding to no avail. This scene didn't even need to be there, but as a caution to other parents, I'd say review it first prior to letting youngsters see it.

So we see the ups and downs of each of their lives. Did they choose to expand on it? No. They had wonderful opportunities to reach to the audience with that, such as with Julia's seemingly desire to have a child, but they didn't ever expand on it beyond that. A few glances over the shoulder with wistfull looks and a very tearful moment with Julia and her husband upon the announcement of her sister being pregnant left me feeling flat and unsatisfied. Why put that in there if you don't care to expand on it? You could have made this a wonderful movie if you had taken tender moments like that and made them meaningful, but you didn't.

At the end, I especially felt I was duped. Overall, the movie felt it was nothing more than an aggrandizement for the author's publicity than a true salute to the woman, Julia Child, who was so endearing to America on so many levels.

My review is to give this film a rating of 3 out of 10 stars, with 10 being the best.

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