Julie & Julia

We went to see the movie, Julie & Julia, last night, based on a favorable review from World magazine.

The movie, based on a young woman's goal to cook all of Julia Child's recipes in one year - and blog about the adventures, does a masterful job of paralleling young Julie with Julia Child's life.

I enjoy watching Meryl Streep's craft and she did yet another great job in portraying Child.

I wouldn't take my teens to this because of the seemingly-obligatory bad language. Plus the zest for cooking extended to a zest for one's spouse, although we didn't see more than long kisses and lights turned out. And, surprisingly in Hollywood terms, the couples were married and happy.

I gained a new fascination for Child's life. She had spunk and determination, something that seemed to be passed on to young Julie during the year of cooking. Child had the fortitude to see a project through, something Julie had not done before.

Some Hollywood politics were wedged into the plot as well, as Child's husband was a critic of McCarthyism and debated briefly with her father, who was an outspoken Republican. On another occasion, Paul Child was summoned to Washington (he worked for the government) to answer questions from three stern men who, in Hollywood symbolism, were probably stiff-necked McCarthy conservatives.

In yet another scene, Julie's boss said he wouldn't fire her for blogging on the job. He inexplicably explained that he wasn't a Republican and he wasn't a schmuck.

What politics had to do with Julia and Julie wasn't made clear and I saw it as another way that Hollywood attempts to subtly train its viewers in an acceptable point of view.

I liked the scenes from the movie where Julie recognizes her own vapid nature and is inspired by Julia to complete a task and overcome difficulty. I appreciated the positive view of marriage. The husbands were not bland fools but actively encouraged their wives.

I didn't care much for Hollywood's additions of gratuitous language and political undertones.

PluggedInOnline offers helpful reviews before spending your money on a film. Click here to read their review of Julie & Julia.