It was like seeing two films by two different directors. And maybe, in a way, that's what happened-it's easy to imagine Nora Ephron 'directing' Amy Adams and Cris Messina to perform in a manner usually associated with a teevee sitcom, but no one but a Master would dare suggest to Streep how to 'act'-and thank god for that. Her and Tucci's performances are subtle and endearing, and that's with the weight of Streep inhabiting a real-life person who's voice and mannerism's could easily have pushed a lesser actor over the edge to parody. You found yourself really, really wishing you could have known these people. In comparison, the 'Julie' side of the ledger was all Nora-and then some:
Oh, the husband really likes her cooking-I can tell because he's shoving it into his mouth like a starving jackal, and spitting it out when he talks!
Look, Julie doesn't want to boil a lobster-that's never been done! Ho ho!, let's play 'Psycho Killer' on the soundtrack, and have the lid blow off like a hand grenade was in the pot! Zany!
He likes the cake! And these crazy, wacky youngsters, they're smearing it all over their faces!
You get the idea. Though the conceit of the parallel stories was a good idea on paper, it needed to be handled by much surer hands than NE's. By half way through I was wishing for a bio-pic of Julia Childs.
Still and all, very much a worth-seeing for the Streep/Tucci performances.
"dammit"
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Topic - 'Julie and Julia' - powermatic 13:53:42 09/16/09 (6)
- RE: I was a captain, aka a fancy waiter, in a prestigious restaurant in Boston for a time in the eighties. One - LongPlay 23:11:13 10/17/09 (0)
- You are far too harsh, but you do have a point .nt - late 15:00:49 09/17/09 (0)
- agreed, the Streep/Tucci duo - PhilJ 20:11:33 09/16/09 (3)
- Didn't Belushi do a Childs impersonation? nt - tinear 21:35:03 09/16/09 (2)
- RE: Didn't Belushi do a Childs impersonation? nt - eppis1 22:49:56 09/16/09 (1)
- Thanks! That Elizabeth Taylor sketch was priceless; one was the restaurant choking incident. nt - tinear 14:59:23 09/17/09 (0)