Julie and Julia...

Last night, we went to see Julie and Julia. I wasn't in the mood for a movie where I had to think a lot, so this was perfect. It was thoroughly entertaining and insightful and I hadn't expected much, so it was a bonus that it was good. Since food isn't one of my big things, it didn't exactly motivate me to run out and buy her cookbook, but I did microwave a hotpocket when I got home, if that counts.

The movie actually runs two parts... how Julia Child became interested in cooking in the 40's and how she wrote her cookbook... and then some girl named Julie in 2002 in NYC who was inspired by Julia Child so she vowed to go through the whole cookbook in a year, one recipe a day, more or less. Not having any structure or follow-through in her life, she pushed to complete the task and blogged about it every day, which led to a book deal and, duh, a movie. There were many parallels in both of their lives. Amy Adams did an ok job... a little empty and whiny, but Meryl stole the show with her portrayal, full of bubbly zeal and vigor of the famous chef, including her accent. There were things that we did and didn't see... what we didn't see was more of Julia Child's alleged drinking (how she went from Le Cordon Bleu to Pabst Blue Ribbon) and more of how she got her own show, etc. What we did see (a lot of) was the boom mic... about 16 times. It got to the point that the audience would bust out laughing when it dangled down, it was that ridiculous. Occasionally in a movie, you'll see it. Or a Palm tree in set supposedly in Hoboken... but never do you see the mic 16 times. It's beyond comprehension how it slipped through.

With Meryl's acting (redeeming herself from that crap she put out with Mama Mia) and most of it set in Paris (it reminded me of when I parlayed through Paris when I was a little girl), I really liked it. It's really not worth 4 Petunias, but I will give them anyway, since most of the other crap movies out there aren't any better (and I had the Petunias leftover from a job).