Julie & Julia Information

Julie & Julia is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Nora Ephron starring Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Amy Adams, and Chris Messina. The film contrasts the life of chef Julia Child in the early years of her culinary career with the life of young New Yorker Julie Powell, who aspires to cook all 524 recipes in Child's cookbook in 365 days, a challenge she described on her popular blog that would make her a published author.

Ephron's screenplay is adapted from two books: My Life in France, Child's autobiography written with Alex Prud'homme, and a memoir by Powell documenting online her daily experiences cooking each of the 524 recipes in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she later began reworking that blog, The Julie/Julia Project. Both of these books were written and published in the same time frame (2004"06). The film is the first major motion picture based on a blog.

In March 2008, Ephron began filming with Streep as Child and Adams as Powell. On July 30, 2009, the film officially premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York; and, on August 7, 2009, it opened throughout North America. Streep and Adams previously starred together in Doubt (2008). Streep and Tucci previously starred together in The Devil Wears Prada (2006).

Plot

In 2002, Julie Powell (Adams) is a young writer with an unpleasant job at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's call center, where she answers telephone calls from victims of the September 11 attacks and members of the general public complaining about the LMDC's controversial plans for rebuilding the World Trade Center. To do something she enjoys, she decides to cook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961) by Julia Child (Streep) in one year; Powell decides to write a blog to motivate herself and document her progress.

Woven into the story of Powell's time in Queens in the early 2000s is the story of Child's time in Paris throughout the 1950s, where she attends Le Cordon Bleu to learn French cooking and begins collaborating on a book about French cooking for American housewives. The plot highlights similarities in the women's challenges. Both women receive much support from their husbands, except when Powell's husband becomes fed up with her excessive devotion to her hobby and leaves her for a short time.

Eventually, Powell's blog is featured in a story published in The New York Times, after which her project begins to receive the attention of journalists, literary agents, publishers, and a dismissive response from Child herself. Although Child's book is rejected by Houghton Mifflin, it is accepted and published by Alfred A. Knopf. The last scene shows Powell and her husband visiting Child's kitchen at the Smithsonian Institution and Child in the same kitchen receiving a first print of her cookbook and celebrating the event with her husband.

Cast

• Meryl Streep as Julia Child
• Amy Adams as Julie Powell
• Stanley Tucci as Paul Child, Julia's husband.
• Chris Messina as Eric Powell, Julie's husband.
• Linda Emond as Simone Beck ("Simca"), with whom Julia wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
• Helen Carey as Louisette Bertholle, co-author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
• Jane Lynch as Dorothy McWilliams Cousins, Julia's sister.
• Mary Lynn Rajskub as Sarah, Julie's best friend.
• Joan Juliet Buck as Madame Elisabeth Brassart of Le Cordon Bleu, where Julia studied French cooking.
• Amanda Hesser as herself
• Deborah Rush as Avis De Voto, Julia's long-time pen pal.
• Vanessa Ferlito as Cassie, Julie's friend.
• Casey Wilson as Regina, Julie's friend.
• Jillian Bach as Annabelle, Julie's friend.
• Frances Sternhagen as Irma Rombauer.
• Mary Kay Place as the voice of Julie's mother.

Reception

Critical reaction

The film has received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 74% of critics gave positive reviews based on 203 reviews with an average score of 6.6/10 with a "Certified Fresh" rating and the critical consensus: "Boosted by Meryl Streep's charismatic performance as Julia Child, Julie & Julia is a light, but fairly entertaining culinary comedy." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, gave it an average score of 65% based on 32 reviews.

Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan commented, "[Julie & Julia] does it right. A consummate entertainment that echoes the rhythms and attitudes of classic Hollywood, it's a satisfying throwback to those old-fashioned movie fantasies where impossible dreams do come true. And, in this case, it really happened. Twice." The A. V. Club gave the film a C, explaining, "Julie & Julia is two movies in one. That's one more movie than it needs to be." Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+. The review by Slate was also positive.

Streep has been widely praised for her performance as Child. Movie critic A. O. Scott of The New York Times affirmed that "By now [Streep] has exhausted every superlative that exists and to suggest that she has outdone herself is only to say that she's done it again. Her performance goes beyond physical imitation, though she has the rounded shoulders and the fluting voice down perfectly." Reviewer Peter Travers wrote in Rolling Stone that "Streep — at her brilliant, beguiling best — is the spice that does the trick for the yummy Julie & Julia." Similarly, Stephanie Zacharek of Salon concluded that "Streep isn't playing Julia Child here, but something both more elusive and more truthful — she's playing our idea of Julia Child."

Box office

On its opening weekend, the film opened #2 behind G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra with $20.1 million. The film has grossed $94,125,426 in the United States and $35,415,073 in foreign territories for a total worldwide gross of $129,540,499, surpassing its $40 million budget.

Awards and nominations

Awards and Nominations
Award	Category	Nominee	Result
Academy Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
BAFTA Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep	(tied with Sandra Bullock)
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
Detroit Film Critics Society Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
EDA Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Meryl Streep
	Best Motion Picture " Musical or Comedy	Film
Houston Film Critics Society Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
London Film Critics' Circle Awards	Actress of the Year	Meryl Streep
New York Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
New York Film Critics Online Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
North Texas Film Critics Association Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
Satellite Awards	Best Actress " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy	Meryl Streep
	Best Film " Musical or Comedy	Film
	Best Adapted Screenplay	Nora Ephron
Screen Actors Guild Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards	Best Actress	Meryl Streep

Home release

Julie & Julia was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 8, 2009.