Trailer Tuesday: Julie & Julia

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Ha, I bet you thought today's post was going to be all about Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time? Well, you're wrong. Today it's centred on comedy drama Julie & Julia.

A chick flick of the highest pedigree, Julie & Julia stars Meryl Streep and Amy Adams (who coincidentally also co-starred in last year's Doubt). The film has been adapted for the screen and directed by Nora Ephron, who was the scribe behind When Harry Met Sally..., as well as the writer-director of assorted hits, including Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail. I guess we should be glad Meg Ryan isn't in this one then.


By all accounts Julie & Julia does for culinary creation in 2009 what Disney-Pixar's Ratatouille did in 2007. Based on 2 true stories decades apart, the film is primarily an adaptation of Julie Powell's memoir "Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen," which was in turn based on Powell's highly successful blog, the Julie/Julia Project.

Stuck in a soul-destroying job, living in a run-down apartment and just generally feeling disenchanted with life Powell sets a personal challenge of cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child's celebrated cook book Mastering the Art of French Cooking over the course of a year, while all the time recording her experiences on her blog. As Powell advances from simpler recipes to increasingly more complicated ones, she learns the same lesson that Childs did (and chronicled in her bestselling memoir My Life in France): with the right combination of perseverance, passion and fearlessness, anything is possible.

In Julie & Julia the film, Amy Adams plays Julie Powell, while Meryl Streep portrays Julia Childs. Stanley Tucci - who starred with Streep in The Devil Wears Prada - rounds out the name-cast as Paul Child, Julia's at all times supportive husband.


Julie & Julia piqued my interest for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it looks like the ideal movie for a mom-daughter outing to the cinema. The last "pedigreed" non-romcom I saw with my mother was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button back in March. This said, I have the feeling that Julie & Julia may also make for excellent couple viewing - I don't believe it will be intolerable for red blooded males.

Secondly, I'm always a sucker for a film with a food focus. If you're a regular visitor to this blog then you'll probably know I like to dabble in the kitchen, preparing exotic meals.

Thirdly, there's Julie & Julia's fantastic cast. Streep is already an icon, Tucci always rocks and I've been a fan of Amy Adams since long before her attention grabbing performance in Enchanted. I've been following her career since Cruel Intentions 2 and her Season 1 episode of Smallville, in which she played a fattie addicted to kryptonite smoothies.

Fourthly, I'm curious to see how successfully the film will handle the narrative device of intertwining 2 separate stories.

And finally, Julie & Julia, to my knowledge, is the first major studio film in which blogging is not only prominently featured, but also depicted as a channel to writerly success. The stuff of dreams!

Julie and Julia was released in the United States on 7 August. It's been a bit of a wait for South Africans (3 months in fact) but the film finally opens here this Friday, the 13th of November.

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