Review: Julie & Julia

So I realize that I am very late to the ball game on this one, but I finally watched Julie & Julia the other day and since it is cooking related I'm being a nerd and merging two of my absolute favorite things, movies and cooking together in this post =)

I had bought Julie & Julia in book form from CostCo probably a year ago with the intention of reading it "with all my free time once I become a stay-at-home-mom". (Yes, you may laugh out loud at my ridiculous idea of "free time.") I think I at least got as far as Julie's first recipe attempt, but that was probably during the week my mother was staying with us and feeding us all three meals a day while I recovered from an ugly labor and delivery situation. The language in the book was a total put-off for me and so I was pretty disappointed and didn't feel the need to press on to finish the book at the time.

Julie & Julia, the movie, got so much buzz and a PG-13 rating so I was more optimistic. I grew up watching Julia Child on TV and was really impressed with Meryl Streep's portrayal of Mrs. Child, a real American TV icon. Her Oscar nomination was totally deserving (and probably would have won if not for Sandra Bullock's win for The Blind Side.) I'll watch Amy Adams in anything and she was perfect in this role. Overall I though it was a casting win with all the minor characters as well. The food was beautifully shot and the transitions between Julia and Julie's worlds were cleverly integrated and kept the movie flowing seamlessly.

The whole time I was watching I kept thinking, "why didn't I think of that?" with regards to blogging your way through a cookbook. Don't get me wrong, there's no way I'm going to cook my way through anything that complex, but what an excellent goal. Movies that make you want to make a change, regardless of how small, in your own life always stand out in my mind and while I won't be attempting to be the next Julia Child anytime soon (or ever!) I will take to heart the fearlessness of Julie in her attempt to tackle something so foreign to the 21st Century woman.

I highly recommend the movie (and the language was way tamed down compared to portion of the book that I have read) and maybe, just maybe, I will seek out a Julia Child recipe to try my hand at this year ;-)

PS - Thanks for letting me morph my love for movies and food into the blog this morning =)