Julie & Julia

Take 15 time Oscar-nominated Meryl Streep as American cooking icon, Julia Child, mix in rising star Amy Adams, as blogger de jour Julie Powell, and add a dollop of comedy and you have the deliciously delightful Julie & Julia.

The film tells two parallel stories, and flits between 1940s Paris, where Child is starting out at the famous Le Cordon Bleu school of cooking. And 2001 New York, where 28-year old Julie Powell’s love of cooking - and her adoration for Child’s past culinary achievements - has spurred her to begin blogging about the celebrity chef; setting herself the challenge of cooking all of Child’s 524 recipes from her best-selling cook book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in just in 365 days.

After her critically acclaimed performance as steely Editor, Miranda Priestly, in The Devil Wears Prada, Meryl Streep proves her range as an actress by trading high heels for a rolling pin as the quirky Child. Broad shouldered and brash at every turn, Streep has Child’s famous mannerism down to a tee; entertainingly reminiscent of Patricia Routledge’s Hyacinth Bucket in the BBC’s Keeping Up Appearances, at times.

Director Nora Ephron (You’ve Got Mail, Bewitched) stays true to the successful memoir, My Life in France – which Child wrote with her great nephew, Alex Prud'homme and was later published in 2006, two years after her death. Ephron shies away from Child’s notoriety as a television icon and focusing instead on her earlier years learning to slice and dice.

Like her roles in Enchanted and Night at the Museum 2, Adams delivers a characteristic likeable performance as Powell. Set just After the 9/11 attacks, Powell’s tale has a slightly darker tone. Her self imposed mission begins to takeover and jeopardises both her job and her marriage to Eric (Chris Messina). However, Ephron lightens the mood with a host of cooking mishaps – including Powell’s reluctance to boil a lobster and the burning of a culinary stew.
 

As well as a love of cooking these two women are unified by the men in their lives. Set against the romantic backdrop of Paris, Child and her husband Paul (Stanley Tucci) enjoy great food and a loving relationship, whilst Powell’s relationship with her husband is a little sketchier – and she’s not afraid to talk about it. After her first book: Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen (which Julie & Julia is based on) was published, Powell had an affair, which led to the appropriately titled second book, Cleaving: a Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession – which is published later this year. The film doesn’t address Powell’s adultery but it does hint that there could be trouble in paradise at a later date.

It becomes a tad frustrating to watch such synched storylines running alongside one another, as each woman goes from one cooking accomplishment to the next. However, this is a cleverly crafted comedy, introducing audiences of a younger generation to the influences of Julia Child and finding common ground with Powell’s easily accessible blogging style. Julie & Julia serves up a bite-size treat.