Julie & Julia

Passion. Ambition. Butter. Do you have what it takes?

Nora Ephron’s best film in a decade tells two parallel stories – one set in 2002 where a New Yorker (Amy Adams) starts a blog and intends to cook every dish in Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” over a year, and one set in the 1950s chronicling Child’s (Meryl Streep) hard work behind that classic book. Slightly overlong, but well planned and something of a charmer; the movie works up your appetite and has two excellent performances by Adams and Streep. The latter avoids turning her portrait of the colorful Child into a caricature. Not enough meat on the bones perhaps, but Ephron has a special touch for pleasantries like this.

The YouTube clip shows a trailer.

2009-U.S. 123 min. Color. Produced by Nora Ephron, Laurence Mark, Amy Robinson, Eric Steel. Written and directed by Nora Ephron. Books: Julie Powell (“Julie & Julia”), Julia Child, Alex Prud’homme (“My Life in France”). Cast: Meryl Streep (Julia Child), Amy Adams (Julie Powell), Stanley Tucci (Paul Child), Chris Messina, Linda Emond, Helen Carey… Jane Lynch. Voice of Mary Kay Place.

Golden Globe: Best Actress (Streep).