Julie and Julia directed by Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail) is a film about the juxtaposition between the life of a blogger named Julie Powell (Amy Adams) and the up-and-coming life of an American icon, Julia Child (Meryl Streep) living in Paris almost 5 decades before. The film is based on the two true stories of the life of Julia Child and how she learned her culinary genius in Paris and Julie Powell who is the writer of the novel upon which the actual film is based. Julie Powell’s somewhat bland life receives a kick when she decides to cook all of Julia Child’s recipes in the span of one year meanwhile blogging about her experiences. On the other hand, Julia Child’s story follows her life in Paris and how she aspires to master the art of French cooking and in turn write a cookbook making French culinary attainable to American people. This same cookbook changes Julie Powell’s life.

The film is approximately 2 hours and at times seems somewhat tedious. I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline based on Julia Child; however, when the film switched to Julie Powell’s storyline I became a bit annoyed at times. Child’s larger than life character is a whimsy and comical person who never takes no for an answer and confronts all of her hurdles with ease. On the other hand, Powell is likewise confronted with certain hurdles and yet seems to deal with them by being whiny and sometimes childish. Both supporting actors Stanley Tucci (Paul Child) and Chris Messina (Eric Powell) help the movie flow along nicely and sometimes have wittier lines than the actual main characters. Julie and Julia have some funny moments which can be enjoyed by most, even if you are not a culinary fan. The resolution of the film may have left some disappointed, but I felt it was a nice touch to a film that is based upon real life. Life isn’t always perfect, but as the film suggests it sure is a lot better with butter!