Friday, September 4, 2009

Julie & Julia

Lest you think I watch only action flicks, I not only went to see this film last weekend, I wanted to go.

And I very much liked it.

All four lead actors did very good jobs, but my hands-down favorite was Stanley Tucci. That man can flat-out act. He made Julia Child's husband so likable that despite his need to play second fiddle to Child/Streep, you simply couldn't take your eyes off him in any scene.

In addition to enjoying the mostly light and fun story, I also found myself appreciating the game the filmmakers were quietly playing with the real present story (Julie) and the cleaned-up, idealized-in-Julie's-mind back-story (Julia). At one point, Julie's husband tells her that what's important is not the real Julia but the Julia in Julie's mind, the Julia that helped Julie save herself. That statement is the proof that we are supposed to understand that the Julia we've been seeing is that same idealized version, which of course it is and has been throughout the film. It's a small thing, and if you miss it you lose nothing, but I still liked it.

If you're into food or simply want to watch some strong performances, don't miss this one.

2 comments:

Frederick Paul Kiesche III said...

I'll agree on Stanley T., he was the best thing about the movie. My wife and I had the same opinion about the movie: we would have been happy if they had just done a movie about Julia and dropped the whole Julie bit. We both felt it was a fluffy story with fluffy actors compared to the Julia sequences.

Mark said...

Tucci was definitely my favorite actor by far in the film.

Labels

Blog Archive