First of all, I defy anyone to tell me that Meryl Streep (as Julia Child) is anything less than the greatest actress in Hollywood right now.She is brilliant.
Always.
As if just having Ms. Streep doesn’t make this movie worth seeing, Amy Adams (as Julie Powell) has completely nailed every performance I’ve seen her in, this one included.
Stanley Tucci (as Paul Child) first won me over as Puck in the 1999 version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and after this movie I’m still a big fan.
This movie is based on two true stories told at different times. One is the story of Julia Child and the other about Julie Powell who challenges herself to cook all of the recipes in Julia Child's cook book Mastering the Art of French Cooking...and then blogging about it.
After watching Julie and Julia, I was motivated by Julie’s declaration, ‘I could write a blog, I have thoughts’. My own declaration went like this: ‘I can cook, I have a kitchen.’ That motivation turned into this fiasco…
In which I tried (and overly succeeded) in broiling Tostadas. Broiling is a tricky procedure with which I am hardly acquainted. Apparently, the oven needs to be closely watched while the food resides in close proximity with the heat source or else flames will undoubtedly be introduced into the kitchen atmosphere via opened oven door.
Huh, who knew?
This did not deter me. After all, what great...or average...or horrible cook (Julie included) hasn’t ended up crying on the kitchen floor? I tried again and again until those tostadas were toasted to a perfect crispy chewiness. I pulled them out of the oven with wonder at what I had just created and wanted to state with Julie, ‘Welcome’.
With an excellent cast, witty dialogue, brilliantly average characters and food that made me want to cook dinner at eleven o’clock at night, what’s not to love? I suppose some language and sexual implications are not to love, but hey, that’s what Clearplay is here for! No need to worry.
Danielle'-Mom by day, Firefighter at dinner-time
P.S. Anyone know what the dish is called that Julie makes towards the beginning, with bread toasted in a pan of butter and a tomato mixture on top? Even though Chris Messina ate it with his mouth open and stuffed way too full, I still wanted a bite.
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