JULIE AND JULIA

JULIE AND JULIA (2009). Writer/Director: Nora Ephron. 

Julie Powell (Amy Adams) is dissatisfied with her job sitting in a cubicle helping people deal with the after-effects of 9/11, so what earth-shaking, socially relevant idea does she come up with? She decides to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's cook book and write a blog about it. You would think someone -- anyone -- connected with this film would see the sheer bad taste in beginning such a fluff movie with references to 9/11 -- and how superficial the nitwit lead character is -- but instead we get a nearly two hour movie that strains for relevance [Child's husband appears before the House UnAmerican committee in the 50's] and comes up short. The film keeps going back and forth between Julia Child's early life and Julie Powell's modern-day blogging "adventure" and is based on Child's memoir and a book the real-life Powell put together about her blog. Frankly, episodes of Child's French Chef TV program were more entertaining than this very low-concept movie, to put it mildly. Amy Adams is quite irritating as the simpering Powell. Streep does a fairly good impression of Julia Child, but the actress should definitely pick her film projects more carefully. It's almost as if Streep simply won't turn down any script. The real Julia Child apparently didn't think much of Powell's blog and wouldn't have approved of this rip-off movie. Julie and Julia might make you hungry -- get a copy of Child's book instead of sitting through this dull time-waster. 

Verdict: You probably shouldn't make movies out of blogs. *.